Redemption of the Ruffs
by novelist24
Summary: The Rowdyruff boys have turned over a new leaf, and have begun a new life as heroes in another city close to Townsville. The girls however, mainly Blossom and Buttercup, are skeptical and don't trust them. Can the boys prove that they really have changed or will the girls still see them as villains? Redemption story of the Rowdyruff boys.
1. The Assault

"Well did you get the combination?"

"Not yet, this guy ain't talking."

"I meant look for it in his desk!"

"Oh right, sorry."

"Hurry up, we've only got 150 seconds before the police respond to the silent alarm!" Brick reminded as Butch put down the manager of the big supermarket located west of Townsville.

"Why can't we just smash the safe open?" Butch questioned finally finding the combination with his x-ray vision.

"Because we don't want to create any noise" Brick answered.

"But aren't we just going to smash through the roof anyway?" Butch argued.

Becoming more frustrated, Brick argued back with "You know what I mean."

He grabbed the combination from his brother and with the paper he turned the dial on the safe opening it. "Okay, grab what you can and be quick" Brick ordered.

"Won't there be security camera's in this place?" Butch remembered.

"Yes, but that's why I got Boomer working on the wire's to cut the cameras" Brick explained putting the rest of the money in the bags they brought with them. "C'mon let's head up to the roof now, Boomer should be done" Brick said as he and Butch flew through the ceiling leaving the supermarket manager in a office full of dust.

They smashed through the roof and landed on it, greeting Boomer who was there waiting for them holding a pair of tweezers. "Hey guys, did you get the money?" the blue 5 year old ruff asked.

"Yeah, did you deactivate the security camera's?" asked Brick.

"Don't worry, I cut the wires in the box with the red ones just like you said" Boomer assured.

"Ok good now let's get out of here before, wait, red wires?" Brick turned back to Boomer raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you did say red wires didn't you?" Boomer asked becoming slightly worried.

"No, I said yellow wires, they're the ones for the security cameras!" Brick scolded him.

Suddenly, the trio of ruffs started hearing sirens and without their super hearing, which meant that the sirens were close. In fact, they were surrounding the whole supermarket. "Well what does it matter Brick? Even if we burst in straight up and took the money by brute force, instead of all that sneaking around, the police still wouldn't be able to stop us" Butch argued. "Yes but it would've been much quicker if we just snuck in, grabbed the money, and got out. Now it looks like we're going to have to fight our way out" Brick complained.

"Ah so what, it's only the police, when have they ever done anything useful whenever this city's come under attack?" Butch rhetorically asked. "Wait, can't we just fly over them at increased speed to avoid the police" Boomer suggested the obvious. "It's not the police I'm worried about. Any second now, you know who, is going to show up, have one big long clash with us, and regardless whether we win or lose, we'll lose this money guaranteed" Brick explained to them.

"This is why I told you to cut the cameras Boomer! So we wouldn't be recognised and they wouldn't call the cops on us, and not to mention those godforsaken puffs" Brick said that last part of his sentence in a darker tone. "Um, not to interrupt or anything, but shouldn't have we just taken off from this roof by now?" Butch reminded them. "What's the point? Those girls are gonna show up here any second now, watch, three two one" he counted down and stood there in silence waiting. But after a few seconds, nothing happened. Brick started looking around in the sky, obviously confused. "Are you sure they're going to show up?" questioned Butch. "I don't understand. They should've been here by now. Not that I want them here or anything but, where are they?" Brick wondered. "Doesn't the mayor usually call them for something like this?" asked Boomer.

Meanwhile in the Mayor's office, the mayor had just been informed of the situation of the supermarket in west Townsville, and had tried to reach the hotline for the powerpuff girls but unfortunately for him, he was stuck head first in a pickle jar upside down like an overturned tortoise. "Hello? Helloooooo? Fine time for Ms Bellum to take a sick day."

"I guess they're not coming" Boomer shrugged.

"Rowdyruff boys! We know it's you! Surrender now and we won't have to use physical force!" a voice from a megaphone came from the front of the store and the boys floated towards it and looked down to see a whole squad of police cars surrounding the place with onlookers being held back, with some of the police helping civilians out of the store.

"Pfft, what can these guys do? Even if we are intending to fly off away into the distance leaving them in the dust, we can easily smash the skulls of each and everyone of these pigs, and smash those cars of theirs" Butch proclaimed. "I dunno Butch, there's quite a lot of them this time" but Boomer was interrupted by Brick. "We can take 'em" Brick smirked down at cops, a wave of arrogance coming over him. He turned to face his brothers.

"Look guys, it looks like the girls aren't coming after all, which makes this a whole lot easier. Butch, for once I agree with you, these idiots deserve a good lesson in what retaliation looks like from the three of us."

"I'm not sure about this Brick, even for us, that seems kinda dangerous" Boomer pointed out.

"Boomer, they're cops, and we're criminals. To them, we're the enemy, and they're not gonna show any mercy on us. They're always going to be the enemy and we are never going to be easy on them in anyway."

"But Brick, it's just that we're only here to take money so we can live, if we beat up a whole bunch of police officers, that's not going to exactly help our situation."

"What do you want us to do Boomer? Just fly down there and say 'excuse us chief, but we only wanted this money to put food in our stomachs, so could you just forget all of our previous crimes and let us go free?' no, they won't do that, they'll taser us on the spot!"

"Will you two quit your yappin' and get on with this" interrupted Butch who had dropped the bag of money and was staring down at the officers. Brick and Boomer, although Boomer was skeptical, did as well. He decided it was best to obey his brothers.

"So what's your answer boys?" the chief called up at them. "Are we going to have to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"Boys, shall we give the police chief our answer" Brick smirked as he darted down towards the front of the store his brothers following him.

The police, wary of what the boys were doing, placed their hands on their guns, but the boys were too fast. They suddenly went into three separate colour streaks, knocking out several police officers who were just about to draw their guns and they did the same knocking out any other police officer who was carrying a weapon, eliminating the biggest threat to them.

The crowd gasped and instinctively ran with some ducking behind cars for cover. The boys started to throw the squad cars at the groups of officers and the chief was forced to run behind a back up car that had just arrived. "See, what'd I tell ya, these idiots ain't got nothin' on us" Brick smiled to his brothers who were also now fully enjoying the chaos they were creating. They went from officer to officer, squad car to squad car, smashing anyone who opposed them or attacking them with heat vision or even a new power they developed a while ago in which they could fire balls of energy in their signature colour from their hands.

More and more police officers were becoming injured on the spot. What started off as a quick robbery devolved into an all out assault. "I don't know why I was against this, now this is what I call a day out" Boomer smiled throwing another officer into the side of a car. Several parts of the ground was now torn out by Butch and thrown into any direction he saw a possible threat in. "Huh, you call yourselves cops? You can't even handle 3 super powered 5 year olds" Butch taunted. "That's what you think" the police chief whispered to himself after hearing Butch's remark.

For too long now he had been witnessing his colleagues being assaulted mercilessly in this fight with little to no time to defend themselves or do anything back. The chief turned to the driver of the back up car. "Any word from the mayor's office?" "Not at all, and nothing from the girls either" the driver replied. "Then we're going to have to use plan B. Do you have the emergency kit?" the chief asked. "Yes sir, right here" the driver handed him the box which the chief opened.

The chief assembled a rifle and loaded it with darts that contained red vials in them. He leaned around the side of the car and aimed for the blue Ruff first, since he had stopped for the moment and was looking for any more potential threats. He wasn't looking the chief's way however and suddenly felt a prick in the neck. "Ow! What the?" before Boomer could say any more, and after he pulled the dart out of his neck, he started to feel drowsy, and without warning, passed out and dropped to the floor. This caught Brick's and butch's attention. "Boomer?" they both said at the same time, concern in their voices. Whilst Brick noticed the dart on the floor, Butch kept looking down at Boomer. "Boomer, bro what happened?" but Butch was hit in the back with a similar dart and felt the same effects as Boomer, before dropping to the floor himself.

"Butch!" Brick looked down then turned his attention towards the dart he was holding. "Tranquilized tipped darts laced with antidote X" Brick realised as he turned towards the direction they came from holding up his arm, where he was hit by a dart. He pulled it out and his vision started to go blurry. Miraculously however, and to the surprise of the still standing officers, Brick managed to stay awake, although he wasn't flying anymore. "Sir, he's not passing out!" the driver of the car informed. "Give me another, quickly!" the chief ordered. Brick looked up, trying desperately to reach the car. The chief fired another shot hitting Brick again, which brought him down to his knees, but he was still trying desperately to use his powers. "He's still resisting!" "Just hang on" the chief said before firing one last dart at Brick. Brick couldn't resist it any longer, he dropped down like a fly.

The chaos was over. The remaining police officers approached the boys cautiously, guns in hands. Ambulances arrived to treat the injured, and the chief walked up to the boys. "Get the cuffs made of duranium" he ordered. "Where did you get antidote X from?" one of the officers asked the chief. "It was a plan in case the Powerpuff girls were absent in a situation and we were up against a threat. Professor Utonium gave the city a supply of it, in case we needed it" he answered.

The boys woke up in a cell, all around about the same time. They rubbed their heads and slowly stood up feeling completely awful. "What the hell happened?" Butch complained adjusting to his new surroundings. "Um, what the hell? Do they honestly think they can keep us in a cell like this-" Butch tried to bend the bars of the cell but failed to do so. "What? But-" "Don't bother Butch, they shot us with Antidote X darts weakening us. Your powers will come back eventually but by the time they do the officers will just put duranium on your wrists again" Brick explained. "And I thought we had those pigs in the palms of our hands" Butch sat down on the bed. "I knew attacking those cops was a bad idea. We lost that money I take it?" Boomer assumed. He didn't get a reply. "We should've just flown off and left them as quickly as we could" Boomer huffed sitting down next to Butch on the bed.

"Don't you start complaining Boomer. If you had just listened to me and cut the right wires, then the security at the supermarket wouldn't have seen us and called the cops on us" Brick argued.

"We didn't _have_ to attack them, but you said 'they see us as the enemy and they always will be' and what started off as a simple job lead us here" Boomer argued back.

"I don't have to listen to this. You two are the problem. If you didn't get yourselves into predicaments that cost us a victory or completing a task, then we wouldn't be here in the first place!" Brick shot back obviously frustrated.

"Hey don't blame all this on us, it was your plan and we followed it" Butch countered.

"My plan would've been flawless if you two just followed basic orders."

"I'm not the one who suggested we fight those cops"

"No but you didn't exactly object to it either."

"Well it looks like we're going back to our usual cell now" Boomer sighed.

"I wouldn't count on that boys" an officer sat by a desk near the cell spoke up. "After that assault today, don't expect the judge or jury to go easy on you. They'll probably send you three offshore this time."

"Offshore? To an island prison?" Boomer asked.

"When's our trial?" asked Brick.

"In a few days. I doubt anyone's going to want to defend you this time" the officer replied.

"Then I'll represent us" Brick proclaimed.

"I'm pretty sure you can't do that legally Brick" Boomer spoke up.

"Would they really care about something like that in this town? Don't worry we'll get out of here in no time, trust me."

 **So this is the first chapter of my RowdyRuff boys fanfic. I'm fairly new to the series, i thought i'd watch some episodes and enjoyed some of them, but i haven't watched that many yet, so i apologise if anything is out of continuity. But I think i've watched enough to know most things about the series. And like many people, the Rowdyruffs quickly became my favourite characters. I wanted to give them a bit more character too, since this story is going to revolve around them, and I personally thought that they didn't get that much in the series. The Powerpuff girls will be in this fanfic don't worry.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	2. The Sentence

In the courtroom the boys had had duranium cuffs on them, with some weight too so they couldn't just fly off and escape, but they still floated in the room. There was no point using heat vision either since there were several courtroom police around with guns, at the ready if the boys tried anything. They were already an hour into the session.

"Your honour, regarding the stacks of bills that the boys attempted to steal, our forensics have found traces of their DNA over them and-"

"I object that your honour. As you know dollar bills change hands many and many of times. Several DNA traces could be found on those bills" Brick spoke as he was acting as the defense for him and his brothers, since the police officer the other day was right, the Rowdyruff boys couldn't find any lawyer who would defend them. Not that they could afford one anyway.

All three of them had been kept under extreme watch and arrest by Townsville's police force since they knew that they were dangerous and could escape at will. They were determined that the boys wouldn't. Now was the day that the boys fates would be decided, and Brick in the past few days had been reading every law, criminology and forensic science book he could get his hands on, since he knew there was no escape from this one.

The prosecutor then gave his counter argument. "That's correct Mr Jojo, however we also found your DNA all over the bag you were carrying the bills in."

"Once again, that bag would have had multiple owners too" Brick protested.

"Yes but we have witnesses, of you three dropping the bag you were holding, jumping down from the roof, and assaulting those officers over there" the prosecutor pointed to the courtrooms audience in which several men and women sat, and although not in uniform, they were the police officers whom the boys had attacked days ago, all covered in bandages.

"Not just the officers but several bystanders and customers from the supermarket also saw you and recorded most of the incident on their phones. We also have you recorded on the supermarket security camera's, which we can also add the charge of vandalising and interfering with the store's electrical system."

Brick kept his cool on the outside, but in truth on the inside he was panicking. He knew the evidence was all stacked up against them, heck loads of people saw the whole incident, they were even apprehended at the scene for crying out loud. The verdict would be decided soon and there was absolutely no possible way they would be found innocent on this one. Yes Brick did make some good arguments and used what he learnt from those law books he read, but the circumstances were not in the boys favour. As the trial went on, Brick, although he didn't show it, was becoming more desperate, and his arguments were just not good enough anymore. Now it was time for the jury to decide.

Meanwhile, at the Utonium house, the Professor had just returned with a bunch of shopping bags and dumped them in the kitchen. Looking at his watch he turned the TV onto a local news channel whilst his girls were sat on the livingroom floor, their attention on the ds's in their hands playing against each other.

"Ha! Well I'll see you girls at the finish line, if you both make it that far that is" Buttercup boasted in her usual manner. "That's no fair you cheated!" Bubbles protested. "It's not cheating, it's called a power up" Buttercup replied. "Well how did you know where it was?" Bubbles frowned. "Just call it a gut feeling Bubbles, just gotta do what you think is right, and maybe one day you'll be just as good as Blossom and I" Buttercup smiled smugly and Bubbles just pouted. Blossom however, noticed the professor's expression and floated over to him.

"Professor, are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Hm, oh yes Blossom thank you, it's just, today's the verdict day for the Rowdyruff boys and I just want to see what happens."

"That's today? Well it took long enough!" Buttercup overheard them and floated over to the TV as did Bubbles.

"How long has it taken already to decide. Heck they shouldn't even get a trial, just throw 'em away already" Buttercup complained.

"Now that's not fair Buttercup. Everyone's innocent 'til proven guilty" Bubbles reminded. "That's due process."

"I know Bubbles, but those boys _are_ evil, and guilty, you saw the footage remember?" Blossom said floating down next to the blue puff.

Bubbles sighed. "I know. I just wish we could've been there to save those poor police officers."

"Well if the mayor actually did his job correctly for once instead of playing with damn jars, we could've been" Buttercup said frustrated.

"It's amazing how the police managed to catch all three of them, apparently they used antidote X to do it" Blossom said looking back at the professor.

"Well the city needs some protection in case of situations like this" the professor replied.

"Did you see it took several tranquiliser darts and antidote X vials to take down Brick? That's pretty scary" Bubbles admitted. And although Blossom didn't say anything to that, deep down she almost felt the same.

The news reporter then gave the announcement that was waited for, and explained "After a long trial and the presentation of evidence, we have been told that the jury inside has come to a verdict now, and they have decided that the Rowdyruff boys are guilty of their crimes, we are unsure of the sentencing."

"Brick Boomer and Butch Jojo, you have been found guilty of the charges against you. Since you are juvenile you will have a lesser sentence but to make up for it, you won't be sent to your usual prison" the judge proclaimed. "Instead I sentence you to an offshore maximum security prison for 18 months."

As the gavel struck the desk, Brick felt something he rarely ever felt, a twinge of fear. This was when he realised, with the judge on high staring down at him, the same with the jury, prosecutor and police about to take him away too, knowing he and his brothers were about to serve a worse penance, this was actually happening. They've done it, they've really done it this time. Butch, although was better at hiding it, was feeling very similar to Brick, and Boomer, was very visibly terrified. "Let's go boys" one of the officers said leading the three boys out.

"Well, that's that then" said the professor with an expressionless face before turning off the TV and left the room to put away the shopping.

"Pfft, serves them right. C'mon let's carry on with race" Buttercup suggested floating back to her ds. "You girls go ahead, i'm going to check on something" Blossom informed them before shooting off somewhere leaving a pink streak behind her. "Hey, where's she going?" Buttercup looked over to where her sister had zipped off to. "Probably something to do with homework or school, you know how she is" Bubbles suggested.

Where Blossom was really going however, was to the courtroom itself, where the sentence had just been carried out. Lately, she had been attending the sentence hearings of most of her enemies, mainly because she wanted to make sure the villains she and her sisters threw in, didn't just bounce straight back out again. And although they didn't catch the boys this time, they rarely ever could beat them in an all out match anyway, she felt like she should be there to see this one.

She floated down outside the front of the courthouse where a bunch of people were already standing and waiting. The doors opened and the boys floated out, being lead by police officers. She noticed that the boys seemed somewhat scared, Boomer more than the other two. "What was the sentence?" Blossom asked one of the bystanders. "Oh Blossom hi" the bystander recognised her.

"It turned out to be 18 months in a offshore maximum security prison" he informed her. The boys were booed as they were lead down to a prison van, although this was the least of their worries right now. Blossom kept a distance but floated alongside them. "You've really done it this time Brick" she calmly said. And although the crowd was making a lot of noise, Brick's super hearing made him hear her clearly. "You willingly lead your brothers and yourself into that assault and only have yourselves to blame" Blossom scolded. "Oh because you're such a great leader yourself" Brick whispered back hearing her.

With her super hearing, Blossom heard this too. "I am a good leader, and always will be. I always know what's best for both my sisters and the town, and only care about the town's people's safety unlike you. Look at you Brick, you're a disgrace" she insulted angry at his insult.

"You put yourself and your brothers into this situation, and you will never compare to me. Oh and just for the record, you will never become as powerful me either. Sure you've matched up against us before, but we've always beaten you in the end, the same with any other monster or villain we've faced, and I bet you couldn't last up to just one of those monsters we face with your tactics." Her words stung, and normally Brick you never allow her to talk to him like that, but what was the point now? It wouldn't help him or his brothers in any way. He just ignored her, and stepped into the prison van with his brothers. The van drove off, and satisfied with this small victory over him, Blossom smirked and flew off back to her house.

The Rowdyruffs sat across from each other in the van. "Why did you let her talk to you like that?" Butch questioned, obviously having overheard the exchange with his super hearing.

"What good would it have done?" was Brick's reply.

"What about your pride man?"

"Look at us Butch! What pride do we have now?" They fell silent after that, until Boomer asked with fear detectable in his voice.

"Are we going to be alright?"

"Don't worry Boomer, we've been in prison before, how bad can this one be, and besides, we have super powers, how bad can it be?" Brick assured them.

"I say we break out. That whole trial was a sham" Butch complained.

"That's not going to help us Butch. They'll just come looking for us again, and we can't keep hiding and fighting forever. Let's just do these 18 months, we'll be running the joint soon anyway."

The boys were lead onto a boat and to an island off the coast, a few miles away from Townsville. With Boomer you could easily tell he was scared, Brick and Butch were better at hiding it, although on the inside, they were no different. Truth was, as they were being lead through the dark hallways by the scary looking guards, with other new prisoners in front and behind them, they had to force themselves not to start shaking out of fear.

All of them were given a lecture by the warden, before they were given striped clothes and taken to their cells. As the three of them were being lead to their cell, they had several stares on them from other cells. The prisoners knew who these boys were, and some even jeered at them. Now both Butch and Brick, but mainly Butch, thought that with the boys reputations, they would be feared, but these prisoners were enough to intimidate them. They were taken to their cell for the night and the bars slammed shut, and lights out was called.

The boys sat down in their cell not speaking at first, until Boomer whispered "Are we really gonna last in this place?"

"Don't worry Boomer, this isn't going to be as bad as you think. We'll have it smooth here" replied Brick.

"What were all the charges again?" Boomer asked despite knowing the obvious ones.

"Well there was the assault of course, not just the officers but the manager of the supermarket too. The attempted robbery of the store, destruction of city property, and attempting to bribe half the jury" Brick eyed Butch.

"And some of them took it too. Backstabbers" Butch complained.

"Okay guys, just keep your heads down, and let's just get through this. Anyone who gives you any trouble, show 'em who's boss. Don't let anyone tell you what to do, apart from the warden and the guards and employees of this place. If we're lucky we get out even earlier for good behaviour" Brick ordered them. Their prison sentence had now begun.

"Blossom where've you been? I've just beaten Bubbles several times, without you it wasn't much of a challenge" smirked Buttercup.

"Hey!" Bubbles retorted.

"I flew down to the courthouse to see the boys be sent off" Blossom explained sitting back down.

"Really, did you get some one on one time with 'em?" asked Buttercup.

"Well with Brick I did, shortly anyway. He had the nerve to tell me I wasn't a good leader, can you believe it?"

"You? Not a great leader? It may have taken several doses of antidote X to take him down, but he and his brothers will certainly never amount to what we've achieved" scoffed Buttercup.

"Oh I agree, and I told him so myself" Blossom had a smug grin on her face as she and Buttercup laughed at that.

Bubbles then spoke up. "I know what they did was wrong Blossom but I don't think that was very nice."

"So what? They're criminals, they don't deserve anyone's compassion" Buttercup stated. "Growing up how they did, and with parents like they had. Heck what right thinking parent would love them?"

"People can change" Bubbles argued.

"Bubbles, you have said that about criminals before, but those criminals didn't show any signs of change, and no offense Bubbles, but you don't exactly have the best judgement" Blossom said softly. "Do you?"

"No, I guess I don't then" Bubbles sighed.

 **The second chapter of my fic. Don't worry this isn't going to be some sort of shawshank parody or anything, they'll only be in prison for the first part of the story, a majority of the story takes place in another city I made up close to Townsville. The reason I could update this early is because I already wrote the first four chapters previously for this story, so I'll upload the third chapter tomorrow and the fourth the day after that.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	3. On the inside

It had been a week since the Rowdyruff boys had been sent to the offshore prison. And to be honest, they hadn't adjusted very well. They did their best to avoid other prisoners, and usually the prisoners avoided them. They didn't think it strange that three five year olds were sent to a prison like this when they found out it was the Rowdyruffs. The two boys did what Brick had ordered, and had not tried to escape, although Butch was tempted.

Brick Boomer and Butch were lined up with trays waiting for food. The boys were sick several times because of the prison food, they couldn't stomach much more, but in reality they had no choice. Normally the boys would sit on a table on their own, but this time there were no free tables available. They had to float over to a table with other prisoners already sat down. "Don't say a word, just mind your own business" Brick whispered to his brothers. The three brothers just sat down and looked at their trays, trying not to savour the taste.

The other prisoners sat on the table acknowledged the boys but carried on with their conversation. "I know, heard he had his skull smashed open in the courtyard before the guards could break it up."

"Did the doctors patch him up then, or what have ya?"

"Tried, he ended up in the prison morgue however. Won't see him again."

Boomer tried his best to shut out and not listen to their conversation, but out of some curiosity, and some concern for this unknown prisoner, he asked "How'd he die?"

"Boomer" Brick whispered. One of the prisoners looked at him. "What does it matter to you kid, you ain't gonna know him."

"I just, wondered" Boomer replied.

"He had his skull smashed open kid how'd you think he died. And he definitely had more in there than it seems you do" the prisoner insulted and Boomer just looked down.

"Hey that's my brother man, don't you insult him" Butch stood up.

"Butch you insult me all the time" Boomer pointed out.

"Quiet Boomer I'm trying to defend you."

"Don't bother kid" another prisoner turned back to his food. "Ah you're just afraid of what I've got up my sleeves" Butch mocked.

"Look kid" they replied. "Out there you may have been an all powerful Rowdyruff boy, but in here you're nothing, so just sit down and mind your own business" the prisoner punched Butch with that knocking him back into a wall. Everyone else, including Boomer turned away.

Normally, you would have just left it at that, but seeing Butch get smashed into a wall, Brick became angry. He let his emotions take over, and wasn't thinking rationally. He grabbed that prisoner with his super strength and threw to the other side of the room. By now the whole room, including Boomer and now Butch who had just looked up.

"Anyone else?" Brick challenged, not thinking anyone would. Not until someone threw a tray to the back of his head. "Ah! Shouldn't have done that" Brick zoomed over to the prisoner who threw the tray and attacked him, causing some others to attack Brick too.

Remaining loyal to their brother, and Butch did feel responsible for this, Boomer and Butch joined in the fight, all three of them using their powers against the other inmates. There were flashes of red blue and green, heat vision was used and so was their new power of being able to shoot coloured balls of energy from their hands. The brawl lasted 5 minutes before the guards break up the fight. They had to fire their guns in the air to gain the boy's attention. The guards took some of the prisoners away, including the boys who were to be taken to the warden's office.

"Now boys, I was informed today that you three, mainly you Mr Brick Jojo, started and got involved in brawl in the canteen. And I suppose you must know by now that brawling is something we don't tolerate in here, although it's not surprising considering the reason you're in here in the first place" the warden scorned.

"So much for good behaviour" Butch muttered. "Sir, we didn't start that brawl. My brother here was punched by one of the prisoners" Brick reasoned.

"Yes but you continued it by literally grabbing that said prisoner with that super strength of yours and throwing him across the room. And from what I hear from the witnesses, you asked 'Anyone else' provoking the others to attack you, then your brothers got involved. And by looking at the injuries the other prisoners sustained, you three did most of the hitting, _with_ your powers." The warden leaned in closer at this point and had a more serious tone. "Now I'm forbidding you boys to use your powers inside these prison walls, is that understood?"

"But sir, what if any other inmate tries to fight us again?" Boomer asked.

"Then you avoid it as best as you can and report it to me. I also suggest you don't provoke any of them. Now you realise I have to punish you three for today. Give them a fortnight each in separate extreme isolation rooms" the warden ordered.

"What!" the boys said in usion. Although stunned by this punishment the boys didn't fight back against it. They just accepted this punishment not wanting to get into anymore trouble, and all of them were definitely worried about not being allowed to use their powers now.

The next two weeks were hard. They had their food taken to them and were not at all allowed out of the isolation cells. The boys had to mentally strain themselves not to use their super strength to smash out of the cells from sheer boredom. They had a few things given to them to keep them entertained. Butch was given some weights, and he just exercised to pass the time. Boomer was given a few toys, and since it was a maximum security adult prison they weren't very good toys, a lot of them broke after a while. Brick was given a few books, and with nothing better to do he read all of them twice.

They were about crime, police case files, and strategies of history's world leaders, such as Churchill, Wellington, and Ceaser. The food was disgusting as always and it became incredibly lonely. But the nights were the worst. It was freezing every night, and they only had a blanket to keep them warm. The only light was from the windows and they heard noises every night, which scared Boomer quite a lot. He cried silently at night, clutching his blanket and slumped up against the wall, wishing to be anywhere else but there.

Brick and Butch had no pleasant experience either. Although they refused to show it, deep inside they were very terrified. Brick was still questioning why he was in there however.

'You don't deserve this. You just, made a mistake in defending yourself that's all. You know, you didn't just put yourself into this mess, you put your brothers in here too.' Brick's conscience was getting to him.

He shook his head and looked out the window. 'No, if it wasn't for them messing up that robbery, them and I wouldn't even be in here' he dismissed.

'But wasn't it you who lead them into that assault on the police?' he argued to himself again.

'Maybe Blossom was right, maybe you-, no! I'm a great leader and a fantastic brother. Everyone just makes mistakes that's all.'

'A mistake that put you and your brothers in extreme isolation.' Brick tried to get these thoughts out of his head by strolling back and forth, well, floating back and forth in the room, with the blanket still over him because of how cold it was. "How salving it'll be to finally be out of this place." he muttered to himself.

Eventually, the boys time in isolation was over, and Brick watched as the guard opened his cell door. "Okay kid, time's up." Brick floated out of the cell and covered his eyes slightly because of the light. He then heard two other doors open to his left, and turned to see other guards releasing two other people from separate cells, whom he recognised.

"Ah, there you boys are I-, boys?" Brick stopped upon the sight of his brothers. They were far different to what they looked like a fortnight ago. They looked tired, Boomer looked like he'd been crying. Butch, who normally had a reputation of not being affected by anything, almost looked traumatised.

Brick admitted it now, he was the reason why they were like this. He started the brawl and as their leader, they followed him. He let his emotions overcome his rationality. His brothers suffered, because of him. Brick looked down at the floor, guilt starting to fill him, but he was interrupted when the guard said "Okay boys let's move" the guards lead them away. Brick floated alongside Boomer and Butch, not saying anything at first. He had to know how they felt.

"What was it like?" he quietly asked.

They took a while to respond. "Let's not, do anything like that again" Boomer said this almost like a plea.

"You boys don't have to, have to follow everything I do y'know. If, I do something brash, you don't have to follow it" Brick told them quite softly.

"Well, you're our leader Brick. You know best" Butch reminded him.

"Do I?" Brick said this more to himself.

They were lead back to their cell, where they were given time to recover, and some food. Boomer tried to lift his shaking hand to bring the spoon to his mouth, but he gave up. Brick watched his brother, and floated over to lift up Boomer's hand so he could eat.

"Eat up buddy." He looked up at Butch, and both of them had a look as they knew they would have to face the other inmates again. And indeed they were. Other the next course of months, the boys were subjected to all kinds of fear. Always having to watch their backs, they couldn't rely on powers for defense, and when word somehow got round that they weren't allowed to use their powers, they were attacked far more frequently. Butch was tempted so many times to use his powers against the beatings they received, but Brick stopped him every time. Flashbacks of seeing his brothers for the first time after the isolation period plagued his mind.

Boomer suggested they inform the warden of the other prisoners, which Butch argued was cowardly, but Brick, decided that was really their only option. There was hardly any point however, as the warden did nothing about it. He assumed, just because they were chemical x users, it wasn't as bad when it happened to them.

Brick was annoyed at this. He had to watch his brothers endure this because 'it wasn't bad when it happened to them.' Okay they had chemical x in them, so they were able to take several blows without breaking a bone, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt them.

The food just got worse and the boys were even really sick a few times because of it. It was really bad for Boomer once when he contracted food poisoning. Obviously worried, Brick and Butch got the prison doctor to help him, who told them Boomer had to stay the night in the infirmary, which only made Brick and Butch more worried.

Butch was floating up and down the cell all night, his worry for his 'little bro' keeping him awake. Brick wasn't moving much. He was wide awake as well, but he just sat on the bed, staring at the floor.

"What if the don't give him the proper treatment? What if-"

"Butch calm down" Brick said this to Butch mainly to keep down his own worry. "They're not giving him any treatment it's food poisoning, they'll just let his stomach settle while he keeps hydrated. Poor guy's probably lonely and scared right now" Brick sighed.

Boomer was glad when he was let out back to his brothers. Brick was right about him being lonely and scared.

"Buddy, are you okay?" Brick came up to him along with Butch, who was equally just as worried.

"Yeah I'm fine, i'm all better now, really" Boomer replied. "They just kept me hydrated and I fell asleep."

"They didn't use sedatives did they? Brick asked. "No I fell asleep on my own. It wasn't all bad, I met this little guy here" Boomer revealed a small mouse on his shoulder.

"That thing isn't diseased is it?" Butch raised an eyebrow. Boomer made a few squeaks to the mouse and it squeaked back. "He says he's fine."

"When you learned to do that I don't know" Butch floated towards his bed.

Eventually, each brother found their own way to cope during this time, Butch started exercising more, increasing his own body strength since he wasn't allowed to use his powers. Boomer practiced his speed in the prison courtyard, and Brick spent a lot of his time in the prison library, reading almost everything, and also learning how to avoid fights when not necessary.

Each of their pastimes were secretly how to help them in a fight. Boomer took an interest in drawing things with stones that left marks. He did this with a bunch of other prisoners who didn't bother the Rowdyruffs. He just spent time outside with them, graffiting on the prison walls, which they had to quickly scrub off when their time outside was over, and Brick told Boomer, that heat vision concentrated at a low level will erase a small thin layer away of the wall, so he quickly did this on the graffiti they made, so no one else saw him use his powers.

"C'mon Henry" which was what Boomer named his mouse. "Time to go back in" Boomer floated alongside Brick as he floated in. "Say what do mice eat Brick?"

"They're herbivores Boomer, oats grains, fruits, just give him bread crumbs."

Boomer had grown an attachment to his pet. He would play with him in any spare time like in the cell or in the prison courtyard, and was one of the main things that made Boomer laugh and smile during this time. Meanwhile Butch was elsewhere in a sort of gym that the prison had, trying to lift weights that could be physically beneficial to him, and having a casual conversation with some of the others in there, since not all the prisoners gave the boys a hard time.

"I don't get it Butch, you have superpowers, why are struggling to lift that weight?"

"Warden says we're not allowed to use our powers, but, don't tell any of the other inmates that I-"

"Ah, say no more" the prisoner understood.

"Some of 'em in here will eat you alive if they found that out."

'Some of them already have' Butch thought sadly.

"I bet you'll be glad when you get out, then again it won't be long until you end back in here. Or if not here somewhere else" the prisoner remarked. Butch stopped lifting and looked up curious.

"What do you mean by that?" The prisoner sighed

"Life ain't exactly peaches and cream after you get released kid. And I ain't just talking about finding a place and a living. There's a lot of, prejudice against ya."

"Prejudice? Like what?" Butch asked.

"Well the people who know you won't treat you like royalty. When I got out after my first offense I tried setting my life straight, pick up the pieces. I tried getting a job, but the crime stays on your record, no one would hire me, no one would give me an apartment either. I know they had good reason to, since you can't trust anyone these days so I don't blame 'em. But it still continued. No homeless shelters would let me in, your friends and family will look at you differently. Before you know it you're committing another crime and end up back in here" he finished his speech.

Butch put down the weight, thinking that over for a second. "So no benefits, government help?"

"To an ex convict? Ha!" the prisoner just sighed again and said "Life isn't going to be easy out there, so my advice, learn how to fight in here, if you want to survive in here, because it's inevitable that you're going to end up back in here."

Butch pondered over those words, before floating over to magazine that he spotted laying around the gym, about boxing and wrestling etc. Not unusual to find in a gym. He picked it up and began reading.

So like I promised another quick update. I have the next chapter already written as well so that should be up tomorrow. After that it might be a while until the next chapter since I haven't written the fifth one yet and so on. But I'll get to it. So the boys will are experiencing harsh times. I felt like Brick went through a bit of a character change too quickly, I tried to space it out the best I could, but his real breaking point will come next chapter.

Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belongs to CN.


	4. Epiphany

"Okay Henry, run through the tunnel. Get the fruit on the other end, C'mon." Boomer's mouse was running through some tunnels that Boomer had made from some books Brick had brought back from the library. He had placed a piece of fruit at the end which he got from lunch earlier that day. Henry the mouse moved through as Boomer instructed it, finally getting to the fruit at the end. Boomer giggled picking him up whilst he was eating the fruit.

"Amazing little thing aren't you."

Brick floated up to the top bunk to a tired Butch. "C'mon bro wake up, we've been ordered to help clean the prison sheds with some of the others today."

Butch slowly sat up with bags around his large eyes. "You think they could give us some extra blankets for the night. The central heating in this place isn't exactly much is it?" he gave a small chuckle.

"Not to mention the beds" Boomer put the mouse in his front pocket.

"Well C'mon boys, we'd better hurry" Brick ushered.

The three boys were lead outside with a group of other prisoners and were instructed by the guards to clean out the sheds, and although Brick and Boomer didn't want to talk to any other prisoner, Butch was fine with having banter with some of them, much to Brick's annoyance.

Brick still viewed everyone in this place, all the prisoners at least, as some sort of enemy, a bane to the boys. He didn't look at his fellow inmates in a positive light. It wasn't in Boomer's character to think of it in that way, but he shared similar views. After the task they were all allowed to spend the rest of the day in the courtyard, and the three brothers were playing with a ball, throwing it to each other.

In the middle of the game however, Boomer heard some sort of scuffle not too far away. In the same courtyard one of the prisoners that Boomer normally graffitied with was being assaulted by a group of other inmates that he had annoyed. And by the looks of things, he was being beaten pretty badly.

"Brick" Boomer called over and Brick knew what he wanted to do.

"No Boomer. Stay out of it" he ordered. But Boomer couldn't stand there and listen to someone who he knew well suffer. He floated over to the scene.

"Boomer, get back here" Brick said in almost a whisper. Boomer kept heading towards the group of rather large prisoners however.

He gulped before speaking up "Hey, could you leave him alone?" Normally Boomer wouldn't have any trouble standing up to large thugs, but this time he couldn't rely on his powers/super strength.

The prisoners ignored him and Boomer spoke up "I said could you leave him alone" he said a little louder.

That's when one of them responded to him "Leave kid, this doesn't involve you." The prisoner being beaten up looked over and warned "Boomer, it's not worth it." Boomer ignored him though and spoke again.

"Put him down or else" he commanded.

"Or else what kid-" the prisoner didn't finish as Boomer floated up and headbutted the prisoner.

"Boomer!" Brick realised what he did.

Butch realised what he did too and shook his head. 'They're going to hurt him.' Butch ran over to the scene as well.

"Butch not you too!" Brick couldn't believe it.

Boomer realised his mistake as the group turned to face him. "It's a good thing he's a Rowdyruff" remarked one of the prisoners. Boomer then felt someone come up behind him.

"Don't worry bro, I got your back" Butch assured him.

Seeing these prisoners approach his brothers knowing that they'll be defenseless, Brick's anger built up in him again. But he couldn't just lash out like he did last time, that wouldn't be a very wise thing to do. But every inch of him was telling him to defend his brothers. He looked up, and saw that on the roof of the wall they were quite close to had some metal sheets on them, stacked up against some metal pipes. Brick still had the ball in his hands and had an idea.

'Gotta get this at the right angle' he threw the ball at the metal and it hit it at a perfect angle. This caused the metal pipes to fall upon the group of prisoners, hurting them. Brick floated over to a confused Boomer and Butch, who eventually realised what happened.

"Boomer, Butch, grab a pipe, defend yourself."

"Shouldn't we just run Brick?" suggested Boomer.

"They'll only find us again somewhere in this place, we can't be on our guard forever, might as well get this over with now."

The boys grabbed some pipes and prepared themselves. An inmate swung at Boomer but he jumped out the way. Brick dodged a few as well, but because there were so many of them, not all of his dodges were successful.

Someone swung at Butch, but he held up the pipe to block the inmate's fist, and he bruised it. Butch then floated up and performed some type of kick which knocked one of them back. He seemed to counter some blows too, though he wasn't always successful.

Brick noticed what Butch was doing and called out "Butch how the-?" "It's called a jump snap kick. I've been reading a few martial arts magazines." The two were punched into the ground again whilst distracted. The grudgingly got back to their feet and continued to fight.

"Keep your fist lined up with your arm, and draw your leg back as soon as you kick" Butch advised Brick as they continued to fight.

Brick noticed how Boomer was suffering the worst, and he was instantly alarmed. "Butch, go help Boomer, I'll handle these!" He sent Butch over to Boomer who helped him, but without their powers, it wouldn't make much difference, even with Butch's advice.

The fight went on for a few more minutes and Brick couldn't hold on much longer. The prisoners had grabbed the metal pipes and used them against the boys. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Brick was mercilessly beaten around the head and into the ground, until a final blow made everything go black, and that must've been some beating to knock a Rowdyruff boy out.

The boy woke up in some sort of room in a different surrounding. His head ached intensively and his vision was slightly blurry but it soon restored. "Glad you're awake kid. You three suffered worse than I did."

Brick turned to see someone standing next to his bedside. It was the same inmate whom Boomer wanted to stick up for which started the fight. He had a few bruises on his face as well. "Where, where am I?" Brick rubbed his head and eyes and tried to sit up, but failed since he was hurting all over and the pain was too much.

"You're in the infirmary kid, I'm surprised the Rowdyruffs themselves took a beating like that from just a bunch of thugs."

Brick took a while to process what he said, but then wondered about that too. "What, what were those pipes made of?"

"Well I asked about that and apparently due to the fact that you and your brothers are in here the prison ordered some duranium metal to be placed around the prison in case you boys tried anything. And apparently, those pipes were duranium."

Brick mentally kicked himself. No wonder those pipes were so heavy. He should've recognised it when he threw the ball at it. "Y'know I've gotta thank you and brothers, I'll come back later to thank your brothers personally when they wake up." As he left with those words Brick remembered.

He turned to his left to see something which made him feel like, pardon the pun, a ton of bricks fell on him. He shot up instantly ignoring the pain, and saw that in a bed each, Butch and Boomer were lying unconscious, covered in cuts and gashes, in several casts, and covered in blood, presumably, their own.

Brick's world collapsed. He'd seen his brothers beaten badly over these past few months, but not like this. This was far worse than anything they've suffered before. He floated out of his bed despite the pain, and over to his brothers, where he just stared at them, guilt filling him. His own family, the _only_ family, he ever had, because he didn't count HIM or Mojo. The sight of his brothers lying before him, beaten to probably near death, and just like before, this was because of himself.

The full realisation came to Brick again, just like how it did when they came out of isolation, he remembered that he was the reason his brothers were probably on the point of death now, why they suffered and were suffering now.

He should've taken away from that fight, he shouldn't have lead them into an assault on the police, he should've defended them better in court, he shouldn't have started that brawl in the canteen, he should've lead them through that fight just now to a victory. _He_ was the reason why they were in this place, they were following his leadership, and as a result, they were lying in front of him, bloodied and battered. His flaws lead them to this. His brash actions, letting emotion take over, not thinking ahead or things through. Their life, lead them to this.

Brick felt tears well up in his eyes, which he couldn't fight. 'What the hell are we doing with our lives?'

With the doctor's permission, after he deemed it suitable for Boomer and Butch, Brick carried his brothers back to their cell and laid them down on their beds, covering them in anything that could keep them warm. More tears fell from Brick's crimson eyes as he floated by their bedsides.

'We can't go on like this. This is all my fault. Boomer, Butch, I'm sorry. Blossom was right, I am a disgrace, a terrible leader. I'll never compare to her.' Brick then thought of something, something which he considered his first step into being a responsible leader.

He wiped his tears and declared in his head 'Don't worry boys, we won't be in here much longer. When we're released, we'll leave this life behind. We'll start again, and we won't get involved in anything. We'll stay neutral, and nothing like this will happen to you again. I'll try my best to make that happen.' He promised.

Butch was the first to wake up and like Brick, wondered what happened whilst dealing with the pain he felt all over. Once Brick told him what had happened, and when he caught sight of Boomer, he was overwhelmed with anger, guilt, worry, vengeance and sadness.

At first he tried to wake Boomer up, and then wanting to take revenge on those prisoners, but Brick stopped him immediately, and in a very strict voice ordered Butch not to do anything violent towards any other prisoner, not wanting his brothers to get hurt any further.

Boomer did eventually wake up and it was the same for him too. Brick filled him in and told him his friend who they defended was alright. Brick and Butch decided to find said friend to bring him to the cell together, since this was the time of day prisoners moved freely around the cells under watch of the guards, and for protection especially after just now Brick and Butch went together.

'Ow my head. Well I suppose my brothers are alright. Looks like we barely escaped that one didn't we Henry?' Boomer pulled his mouse out of his front pocket and held him in his hands.

However, Boomer's mouse wasn't on his legs, more like lying on his side, limp, not moving at all.

"Henry?" Boomer poked his mouse a little, wondering why he wasn't moving. Boomer remembered, he was hit several times all over his body, and he still had Henry in his front pocket.

"H-Henry?" Boomer started to realise as his eyes began to water. He started crying because he knew his mouse wouldn't get up. The only thing that made made him smile, that made him laugh, his only comfort in this cold dark place was gone. Brick and Butch came back with the prisoner, who thanked Boomer as well and comforted him because his mouse had died. Boomer buried the mouse in the prison courtyard.

Brick strictly ordered the boys not to get involved in anything that might hurt them. He did this before but even more strictly this time. After that beating, Boomer and Butch, although Butch was tempted, never initiated any type of violence. The prisoners who beat them received two weeks in isolation. The boys did receive a punishment even though this time they weren't the ones who started the brawl and were defending someone. Two days in separate isolation rooms this time.

All three of them kept out of most things for the rest of their sentence and mainly focussed on their pastimes, although it wasn't as fun for Boomer as Henry was gone. And finally, thankfully for the brothers, their 18 month sentence was over.

They were taken outside the prison walls and to the edge of the island. A prison official led them out and the walls were filled with guards with snipers, bullets tinted with antidote x because they still didn't trust the ruffs and worried they might try something. It felt good for the boys to be back in their original clothes again, which were made to be slightly bigger now.

The Rowdyruffs hadn't changed much physically, they were now 7 years old and apart from being two inches taller, they looked the same as they ever did. On the inside however, it was a different story. Brick told the official that they'll fly off the island.

Brick himself had cut his hair. It wasn't the long hair we all know anymore, it was shorter and his hat covered most of it. Under his hat his hair was messy scruffy and a lot of it stuck up.

They flew off the island and had no real possessions or anything so it was just them. Brick Boomer and Butch were finally allowed to use their powers again. They were halfway flying over the sea towards the mainland and Boomer and Butch fired balls of energy at each other and heat vision, finally getting to use their powers after so long.

Although they were glad they could use their powers, a cloud hung over the boys, and they didn't talk for most of the flight after they'd gotten used to their powers again. Whilst they were following their leader, Boomer and Butch noticed that they weren't heading in the right direction.

"Hey Brick we're heading the wrong way" said Butch.

"This isn't the way to Townsville" noticed Boomer.

"We're not heading to Townsville" Brick informed.

"What? Why not?" Butch wondered.

Brick stopped as so did his brothers and he turned around to tell them. "Look guys. I've been thinking during our time in that hellhole. Lets face it, Townsville is not exactly going to welcome us back with open arms. Our reputations, especially after that assault on the police, are not very glamorous. We'll probably have as bad as a time there as we did in prison. So I've decided. We move, to another city. Somewhere where we can make a fresh start, where people _probably_ won't hate us, and I emphasize the word probably."

"Wait, you just decided this without consulting us? Very undemocratic if you ask me" Butch remarked.

"Look Butch, I'm joking around here. Have you two ever considered that maybe the reason we ended up in there was because of our life choices? Because we were criminals?"

"We had to be to fill our stomachs, and besides, the reason partly we ended up in there was because of your decision to attack the police, because of your leadership and decision making, and so we suffered for it!" Butch finished his outburst. Boomer was just watching the two nervously.

Brick just looked down still with the same facial expression and said quietly "I know. I'm the leader, so I take full responsibility for why we suffered."

He continued "And I am not going to make that same mistake again. _That_ is why Butch, I've decided without your opinion, to move us to another city and start over. What I've decided to do is what I think, I _know_ , will be best for us. We're moving to Founders city, which is a few miles north of Townsville. I read about it in the prison library and also during those times when we had supervised access to the internet. We move there, find some place to live, and stay neutral, meaning we don't get involved in anything, just finding a way to survive."

"And how are we going to do that without stealing anything?" asked Butch.

"We'll find a way. Trust me, we will. And no, you two still don't have any say in this." With that, Brick lead his brothers to the new city which he hoped would hold a new future.

 **Happy Halloween to all of you out there! Like I promised, here is the fourth chapter of the story. Since I haven't written the fifth one yet, the next chapter will be a little while but not that long. I was only able to upload the first four chapters daily since I already wrote them a previously. Next chapter won't be too long.**

 **AC 97: Thanks for the constructive criticism, I also like it too when Brick is portrayed as intelligent. In this chapter I have aged the boys by about two years, so they should be seven years old, as I might be wrong but they were about five in the original series. I tried to add line breaks before but they didn't seem to be working, hopefully they will this time. Thanks again.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belongs to CN.**


	5. Adjusting

Boomer and Butch must've followed their leader for about five minutes until they saw skyscrapers on the horizon. Because of their superspeed it wasn't that long of a journey, but the blue and green ruffs were thinking over what the red one had said. Another city? A new life? All they've ever known, other than that horrible life in prison, was taking whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and not letting anyone push them around.

But staying neutral? They weren't even sure they could do that. How were they supposed to eat, or where would they live? They knew Brick only wanted them to be safe, but was he really making a smart decision? Butch thought over all the possible ways they could live their lives, and every conclusion he came to was turning back to crime. But, he decided to give Brick a chance, give this a 'wait and see' thing. He hated that prison just as much, but he just knew in the back of his mind this was a faux attempt at a so called 'new life.' People would only ever see them as criminals.

As they flew over this new city, Boomer looked down and observed all the hustle and bustle going on below. It was much busier than Townsville. He wondered where exactly Brick was taking them. How would they live their lives? There was no doubt in his mind about not going back to that awful prison, or any other for that matter. But he knew they didn't have the best reputation, like Brick had said. A lot of people in this city probably knew about them too. In truth, he felt scared about what the others would think of him and his brothers, and what they would do if they saw them.

"Um, Brick?"

"What is it Boomer?"

"Well, it's just that, when we, come in contact with other people, what will their reaction be? Will they send us back there? Will-" he was asking in scared child like way, but Brick interrupted him.

"They can't just send us back without good reason to Boomer" he looked at his blue brother. "As long as we don't do anything that will get us into trouble, and just keep a low profile, there will not be a reason for us to get into trouble with the law again."

Brick then turned back continuing to fly and said in a more serious tone "But to answer your question, don't expect to be met with happy smiles. Like I said, the people _probably_ won't hate us. Our history will not be forgiven so easily, and to be honest I doubt it ever will. But whatever people say to us, or do, do not lash out, at all" he warned them.

"May I ask, where exactly are we headed?" Butch spoke up.

"I don't know yet" Brick bluntly replied.

"What?" Butch exclaimed and both he and Boomer stopped. "Did you even come here with a plan?"

"I did. Find a place to live, and some way to eat, and stay out of trouble."

"That's it? Oh great plan 'great leader', we could be looking around this stinking city all day!"

"No we won't." Brick looked around, using his x-ray vision, studying certain places. "There" he finally spoke and pointed in a direction.

His brothers looked to where he was pointing and saw a warehouse, by the looks of things abandoned. It was in a run down part of town inbetween a bunch of other run down buildings, alleyways either side of it.

"There what?" Butch looked unimpressed.

"We hide out here" Brick flew down to it.

"Wait you can't be serious?" Butch followed him down as did Boomer.

Brick flew through an opened window near the ceiling of the warehouse. It was definitely abandoned like he saw in his x-ray vision. It was full of empty cardboard boxes, and nothing much else really. One wide door which was presumably for vehicles, with another door for people by the side of was a third door on the other side of the room which led out to the alleyway. The only windows were up high close to the ceiling. It felt drafty. There were a few radiators on the walls but he doubted whether they actually worked. Judging by how old it looked and by the lack of items in this place, and the padlocks on the doors, this place was no longer in usage.

That also meant there was no electricity or plumbing. But beggars could not be choosers. Boomer and Butch followed him in, and examined the place for themselves. "Well this is our storage room but where do we actually live?" Butch remarked sarcastically.

"We live here Butch" Brick informed him.

"Yeah I was afraid you'd say that. You mean you want us to live here? In this cold, damp, dirty lego set?" He pushed over a few cardboard boxes that were piled up.

"Do you see anywhere else that's suitable enough?" Brick asked rhetorically.

"A frickin' dog kennel's more luxury than this" Butch protested.

"Then why don't you go find one to live in then?" replied Brick. "It's either this, or you sleep outside, like a dog." Brick floated over to one of the piles of cardboard boxes and started moving them around. "I know it won't exactly make a comfortable bed, but anything's better than those prison bunks right?" he made a smile at his brothers, in an attempt to humour them.

As he put one of the boxes down, two rats scurried out of them and ran towards a hole in the wall. "See, there are pests in this place" Butch argued.

"No it's okay" Boomer spoke up, and floated over to the hole the rats ran into. He went down to it's level and made some squeaking noises. Amazingly, the rats stuck both their heads out of the hole, and looked directly at Boomer. They squeaked back something, before turning back into the hole.

"I asked them if they could possibly stay out of the boxes that we're sleeping on. They also told me they're not diseased or anything so we should be fine" Boomer informed.

"So can you do that with all animals or what?" Butch asked.

"As far as I know only rodents" replied Boomer.

"Well all the doors are padlocked and this has most likely been abandoned for ages, so security should be fine. And there are some old newspapers here for blankets." Brick picked up a newspaper from two years ago, which he realised had a headline about the Rowdyruffs themselves: ROWDYRUFFS, ATTEMPTED ROBBERY. Brick threw the newspaper to the ground. He remembered that day exactly.

"I don't think chemical X users have to worry about security that much Brick" Butch pointed out.

"You're right, not if no one knows we're here we won't" Brick responded.

"I thought you said people can't do anything to us without a good legal reason to?" Boomer reminded.

"He probably means vigilante groups Booms" Butch replied calling him his nickname.

"Alright you can use your powers against people in self defense but _only_ in self defense" instructed Brick.

"And will the public believe it was self defense?" Butch questioned to which Brick didn't reply.

"I'll, go and make myself a bed" Boomer, becoming more worried, floated over.

"So we are actually going to be living here then?" Butch gave in, and no one answered him. "There still is the question of food y'know."

"I'll find something. You two stay here and, try your best to make yourselves comfortable." Brick then flew out of one of the windows leaving Boomer and Butch to talk amongst themselves.

"Boomer, let me ask you something" Boomer turned to face Butch.

"Do you really think this will last? I get that Brick may have good intentions for us but is it really possible for us, the Rowdyruff boys, to survive without committing any sort of crime? I mean we don't exactly have any money to pay for anything we need."

"But Butch, you know if we do anything criminal they'll only send us back. And probably somewhere worse!" Boomer worried putting his hands to his cheeks.

"Exactly. And do you know what we did wrong last time Booms?" Butch smiled floating over to Boomer, putting his arm around him.

"Assaulted the police officers?"

"Apart from that."

"Tried to rob a store?"

"Apart from that."

"Endangered several civilians-?"

"No Boomer! We were captured and arrested by the police. They got us in the end. Since we're in a new city they're not going to have supply of antidote X are they? And if we avoid making the same mistakes as we did last time, we'll be fine. We'll have food in our stomachs and people will be too scared to mess with us" Butch persuaded.

Boomer looked at him. "We'll be caught eventually, and who knows what they'll do to us this time!"

"They won't be prepared for us. Let's just go and get ourselves some real food. We'll be back here before you know it" Butch assured.

Boomer thought for a while before finally agreeing. "Alright, but only because I don't think Brick will be able to get us anything." The two brothers opened another window and flew out into the city.

Brick floated down the alleyways of the rough side of Founders city. Although he didn't show it when he was there, he honestly didn't know how he and his brothers were going to do simple things like eat, drink, and have warmth. Luckily just now he found a ten dollar note lying on the ground, but he knew money wouldn't exactly be in abundance. It wasn't like getting a job was an option either. They were too young anyway for an official job, you can't exactly hire a seven year old. He thought about a cash in hand job, but who would hire them?

He flew to a better part of the city out of the rough area, and spotted a store below. Memories of him and his brothers attempting to rob that supermarket in Townsville flooded his head. But where else was he supposed to purchase food? He swallowed and flew down to the entrance, floating inside. He didn't make eye contact with anyone, and despite not being in Townsville, it didn't take long for people to recognise who he was. Brick didn't even need his super hearing to hear their whispers.

"Is that a Rowdyruff boy?"

"The leader too."

"He's here? What are they doing here? Where are the other two?"

Brick decided not to make any sudden movements, but it didn't stop people from rushing out of the store or hiding for cover. Brick flew over to a shelf to grab some sandwiches and some bottles of water. When he got the counter there was no one there to greet him, so he left the money on the counter, not taking any change, since it would look bad for a Rowdyruff boy to handle the cash register himself, people might get the wrong idea, which was a shame because he needed that money. So he quickly grabbed some other bits of food to get his money's worth.

He returned to the rough side of town. He needed to get away quick since he overheard the worker, who was supposed to be at the counter, calling the police. Carrying a bag of food in his hand he floated down the alleyways, back to what would be their home for a while.

He came to a crossway in the alley, and he heard something to his left. He turned to see two people in suits, and another man in regular clothing with his hands up and his back to them. Brick used his x-ray vision to see that one of the men in suits had a handgun pointed at the regular man's head.

"This isn't personal Stevie. But as soon as you decided to testify, the boss didn't take a liking to it" the man holding the gun explained.

"Well what hell is she doing importing those sort of things anyway? Since when did medical equipment start making her money?" the man, apparently called Stevie, retorted.

"What matters is that you were going to tell the court" the other man in the suit said.

Brick was about to turn away from it. It wasn't his business to get involved, he wanted him and his brothers to stay neutral, neither committing crime, nor fighting it. And this wasn't any ordinary crime going on, they looked organised. He won't get involved in anything, it'll only look bad or be misinterpreted.

But then he looked up again, and saw some sort of fear in the man's eyes, the same fear he saw in his brothers eyes when they were going up against the other inmates in that prison. The same fear of going to, or probably going to die. The familiarity overcame Brick, and made him do something. He dropped the bag and flew over to the scene.

All the two people in suits saw was a streak of red before having their heads smashed against the wall, becoming unconscious.

The regular man lowered his hands in surprise, and fear. "What? Wha-, you're a, a Rowdyruff boy. But I thought, you were,"

"Just testify what you need to and don't get involved with these people" Brick began to float away.

"Well, why do you care?" Stevie instantly regretted saying that, remembering who he was talking to.

Brick stopped mid air not turning around. "I, don't." He picked up his bag and continued along his way. When he got back to the warehouse he didn't know whether or not to feel surprised at his brothers being gone.

"Boomer? Butch? Ah I should've known-" he spotted another window open that wasn't before. He dropped the bag and flew out of it. 'They could be anywhere in this city. Okay don't panic, I just have to do my best to find them, somehow.'

He flew higher, and used his x-ray vision to look around for them. 'Nowhere in sight. They're out of my visual and audible radius, which means they must be quite far.'

Brick looked up to see two small holes made in the clouds above. 'Only two things could've made holes in the clouds that size.' He followed the trail through the sky, using his x-ray vision and super hearing all the way. The cloud trail eventually came to end.

'They must've spotted something here. Knowing them they're probably after food first, and this is a commercial area of the city.' He floated down to an alleyway. 'They'd go for something small because even they know they won't receive the best reception. And I know they flew past this area' Brick noticed very faint burn marks on the walls which must've been caused by his brothers flying past them really quickly.

He looked around the street. 'Candy store, there!' He flew up to the window and looked in, but surprisingly, they weren't in there. Luckily no one was on the street to see him. He overheard something with his super hearing which sounded like Butch's voice. Brick cursed himself. "Dammit guessed wrong. Candy store was too obvious."

He flew over to the source of the sound, and it was a cake shop, some sort of bakery, and Brick entered to find Butch taking items from the glass counter display and Boomer behind him holding a bag of other things. The man behind the counter was backed up in a corner. Brick floated in not looking very pleased.

"Brick? Brick we managed to get so much from this one store and-" Boomer tried to say.

"Put the bag down Boomer" Brick said quite sternly.

Boomer looked a bit surprised. "But Brick-"

"Now Boomer."

Boomer hesitantly obeyed. Butch knew Brick would probably get like this. "Find any food then?" Butch turned to face him.

"I managed to _buy_ some food with some money I found on the street. An I told you to wait at our home."

"That godawful place? Waiting for you to come back not knowing whether you would have anything?"

"And _this_ is the way to get what we need?"

"You never complained about it before."

"Have you not been listening to anything I've been saying since we were released? We've just gotten out of a hellhole, I am not prepared to watch yourself get sent back!"

"As long as we don't get caught we-"

"We will be in the end if we keep doing things like this. We'll continue this discussion at home, put the stuff down, we are not stealing from anyone, ever." Brick flew over and grabbed the items from his brother's hands and put them back.

"And why should I do this?" Butch questioned.

"Remember to remain loyal to a leader?" Brick knew that Butch would not go against him fully.

Butch did decide in the end to listen to his leader. "We are going back, _now_." Brick lead his brothers out and flew them back to the warehouse. He was angry and didn't speak at first. Eventually he turned to Butch.

"What were you thinking? We've only just gotten out of that prison, and you might as well have turned yourself straight back in. Plus you could've lead Boomer into that same fate" Brick scorned, knowing that it was Butch who must've come up with the idea and Boomer just followed.

"Brick, we're going to end up in some sort of prison again eventually, why delay it?" argued Butch.

"I'm afraid you've already doomed yourself. That shopkeeper is a witness to what you two have done" Brick countered.

"But Butch, I thought you said we wouldn't get caught?" Boomer spoke up, becoming really worried again, terrified even.

"We won't Boomer. Not if we stay out of everyone's way. Just keep to ourselves and survive." Brick turned back to Butch. "And never, try anything like that again, period."

"The way I see it, our reputations are already smeared and dead anyway. There isn't a chance nor a hope that people will see us as anything but a danger to them" Butch stated.

"Then let's not beat a dead horse, let's not prove them right. I bought a few sandwiches and bottles of water. That's what we'll eat tonight" Brick handed his brothers the food.

They sat in silence for a while, not having tasted food in a while that was at least decent. Boomer finally asked "What do we do in the meantime then? Y'know, for fun?"

Brick sighed. "I'll see if I can find anymore money on the street to buy a pack of cards or some sort of game."

It was night now and the boys had been playing poker and blackjack all day, though it wasn't much fun with nothing to gamble with. They had lit a fire in the middle of the warehouse to keep them warm at night and eventually retired to their cardboard beds and newspaper blankets. It was similarly cold to the nights at the prison but at least they had a fire of some sorts.

Boomer was the last to fall asleep, trying to stay warm while shaking under the newspapers. He then spotted two rats crawling about sniffing for food, looking as hungry as he was. He took some crumbs from the napkin that came with his sandwich and called over the rats. "Eat up buddies."

 **So here's the fifth chapter finally written. I'm going to try and make the boys develop first before they get involved in any acts of heroism. For now, they're just trying to get by. I thought there should be a little conflict between Brick and Butch too, the same way Blossom and Buttercup argue. And the girls will be in later chapters too, so you will see them.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	6. Boomer?

As much as Butch hated it at first, he eventually got used to not having to steal or rough anyone up to acquire food or anything they needed. And concerning their reputations being dead, he was proven right on some occasions. Whenever the boys were forced to go out in public, for things like food and drink, people would distance themselves away from the boys, and people at counters would beg not to be hurt, which would leave the boys having to tell them each time they weren't there to hurt anyone. Days turned into weeks and Butch did have to admit that he didn't think they would last this long.

Life was indeed hard for the boys as Brick and Butch predicted. Still anything was better than living in that offshore prison. They felt slightly more free at least. But they really had to work to get what they needed sometimes. Money was really difficult to get, and they often had to resort to scavenging around in bins outside restaurants or fast food places to get something to eat for the night.

They were also running out of newspapers to burn. They weren't always that lucky to find a newspaper that someone threw away in a bin somewhere. They had similar headlines when they did find one however: ROWDYRUFF BOYS IN FOUNDERS CITY? It was no doubt now that the Founders police force knew about them. Although the boys hadn't actually done anything, it was wise to keep their distance from them.

They instead collected wood to burn from the woodland park areas of the city. "Collect dead wood, it burns easier" Brick instructed them.

Whilst in the park woodland area, Boomer overheard something with his super hearing. He soon discovered what it was when he picked up a pile of dead wood and saw a squirrel underneath, looking like it was sheltering under there. Or at least, trying to build a home from the sticks. Boomer wondered why he was trying to make a home there since they normally live in trees, but he had to focus on collecting more wood.

He felt kinda guilty for taking this animal's home though, since he and his brothers were in a similar predicament. He turned around to see the squirrel nestling in some tall grass. Clearly the animal didn't have a home, or much of a home. Just like the boys. And Boomer had to admit, an animal was his only comfort for 18 months.

He sighed, and flew over to the squirrel and knelt down. "What's wrong fella?"

The squirrel just squeaked, and Boomer understood. As Squirrels were rodents. "Your home fell down?" The squirrel pointed over to a fallen tree. "Yeah, it has been stormy lately. But why not make another home out of a tree?"

The squirrel chirped. "None of them have suitable enough dens huh?" Boomer looked around and saw a tree trunk that was quite thick. "Don't worry, I've got an idea."

Boomer flew up and used his heat vision on the tree. It took him a while to do this and the squirrel watched in astonishment. Boomer finished, and there was a perfect den carved out from the heat vision for this squirrel to live in. "There you go" he picked him up and placed him in there. The squirrel chirped a thank you and the blue ruff saluted back, before carrying on with his task.

All three of them that evening were sat in their large drafty warehouse home close to the dimming fire, finishing their already half eaten chicken meals they found in a fast food restaurant bin.

"Well, who's interested in pretending to use these chicken bones as pretend swords then? There's not much else to do" Butch threw a bone into the small fire with a half interested look. "Playing card games all the time is getting kinda boring."

"I don't wanna play right now Butch" Boomer said throwing his finished meal into the fire as well. "That chicken really makes you thirsty."

"Yeah, but we couldn't find any decent drinking water, or anything to drink. Brick I have to admit, especially after eating that, I'm really parched." Butch turned to his leader brother.

Sadly Brick had not been able to find even half drunken bottles of anything, since yesterday. However, it then started to rain quite heavily outside, which gave Brick an idea. "Boy given how desperate I am right now I wouldn't hesitate to go out and- Brick? Where are going?" Boomer saw his brother pick up a few empty bottles from yesterday and some old newspaper, as well as some charcoal from the fire.

He flew outside and placed the bottles upright on the floor stuffing the newspaper as some sort of filter in them. He then put the charcoal in newspaper filters and picked up some gravel from the ground and placed it in there too. The rain water then started to filter through the gravel, charcoal and newspaper and clean water began to fill the bottles.

He flew back in, wet from the rain, and holding in his hands three bottles of clean water. He sat back down with his brothers and handed them the bottles. "Save those bottles for next time" he told them.

"Are you sure we can drink this?" Butch examined it.

"I purified it" Brick replied, taking a sip of his own, and eventually Boomer and Butch drank too, and quite fast to quench their thirst.

"Brick?" Boomer turned to him.

"Yeah?"

"I'm still thirsty."

"Give it here" Brick took the bottle and went back outside with more charcoal and newspaper, leaving Boomer and Butch to talk amongst themselves.

"Do you really think the people in this city will come for us Butch?"

"I don't know. I mean, I don't agree with Brick on most things, but I think he is right in moving us to another place, even if we have to live in an old warehouse. But one thing's for sure, it's going to be better than what the people of Townsville think of us."

Boomer agreed. "Yeah. I wonder what's going on there right now."

Meanwhile in Townsville…

"Buttercup, look for a weak spot!" Blossom ordered as she dodged a blow from a mechanical arm that Mojo Jojo was controlling.

"How am I supposed to know where it is?" Buttercup protested flying around their adversary controlling a mechanical robot like machine.

"But don't hit where he's stored anything flammable!" Blossom yelled, trying to distract Mojo, since he had just stolen flammable liquids from a science lab in the city, in an attempt to produce more weaponry.

"Dammit you girls! If you'd just left me alone, or at least stay still, then this could've gone a whole lot easier for all of us wouldn't it?" Mojo protested.

"Then why don't you stay still for a change?" Buttercup argued.

"Where is Bubbles? She's supposed to be here right now." Blossom kept flying around the robot trying to distract it, whilst Buttercup looked for a weak spot.

Mojo chuckled. "I know what you're trying to do girls. There isn't a possible way to outsmart Mojo Jojo." He pressed a button on the controls when Buttercup found a weak spot and went to punch it, and it electrocuted her.

"Buttercup!" Blossom called out, as her sister fell to the ground. But being as tough as she was, she was able to be still standing after a shock of that voltage.

Blossom used her x-ray vision to see where the wires were in the robot that the electrical current traveled through. She then shot it them with her heat vision, disconnecting them. Blossom then saw out of the corner of her eye a blue streak coming towards them. "Bubbles, hit it just there!" Blossom pointed to an area and Bubbles flew up rather quickly and punched the place where Blossom directed.

Mojo's robot flew up into the sky and Mojo himself was forced to eject. "Oh curse those girls! Of course they only won because my prize was so dangerous and had to be careful with it, hence why I ejected. In any other fight, the odds of me winning are.." he went off on a tangent.

"Oh no! That machine's going to fall back down!" Buttercup joined her sisters.

"Don't worry I got this" Bubbles proclaimed firing her heat vision up at the robot.

"No wait Bubbles thats-!" Blossom tried to say before the whole machine exploded due to the flammable liquid.

"See, now it's destroyed" Bubbles pointed with her stub.

"Yeah and now there's pieces of hot metal plummeting towards Townsville" Buttercup pointed out.

"Quick!" Blossom shouted as the girls flew to grab the pieces of metal before they struck Townsville, dumping them in the sea. By the time they got back Mojo was long gone. Out of their super audible range and sight.

As they were flying back, Blossom wasn't very pleased with what happened. "I wanted to protect that flammable liquid because it was stolen Bubbles" Blossom explained in a gentle tone. "The company it was stolen from has now just lost probably thousands worth in that explosion."

"I'm sorry Blossom. I just wanted to destroy Mojo's big robot machine" Bubbles apologised.

"I know Bubbles, but next time, try to analyse the situation first before acting on it, or at least leave the decision to me."

"To be honest, normally I would hate having leader girl here decide everything for us. But, when it comes to people's safety, and our own, as much as I hate to admit it" Buttercup muttered that last part. "Sometimes, I guess, we gotta listen to her."

"That's the best I'm going to get from you isn't it Buttercup?" Blossom shook her head.

As they flew down the streets, people were cheering for them, calling them their heroes, as usual. Although the girls were used to it by now. "Yes yes, just doing our jobs good citizens" boasted Blossom.

"Sheesh, you'd think they'd let us fly home in peace just once" Buttercup whispered.

The girls were now at home having dinner, and unfortunately for them, it was Broccoli and vegetables again. They had tolerated it for a while after that attempted invasion, but now they were just like typical little kids again.

"Professor can we have something else? Carbohydrates would be more suitable don't you think?" Blossom tried to persuade.

"Or anything else" muttered Buttercup.

"Now girls, growing superheroes like you need a balanced diet. All of you eat up, especially you Bubbles otherwise I'll tell Ms Keane not to let you in that field trip tomorrow." The professor was really joking here, as he would never do that.

"Where's she going?" eyed Buttercup.

"Don't you remember? Ms Keane asked us if we wanted to sign up to go on a field trip to Founders city tomorrow. To see the art galleries there" she happily replied.

"And you signed up?" Buttercup asked.

"Of course I did. And besides, I get a day out of school because of it" Bubbles giggled. She couldn't help but innocently tease her sister and the green puff did indeed pout at that.

"Don't worry Buttercup, school's not that bad" Blossom boasted.

"Yeah whatever, and seriously, could we have something else to eat? I'd rather starve than have this" Buttercup pushed her food away.

"Well I hope you enjoy your day tomorrow Bubbles" the Professor tried to ignore Buttercup and change the subject. "I haven't been to that city in a while. I have an old friend who lives there actually. A scientist like me and an old school friend. Wendy, her name is." He picked his plate after finishing his food and walked over to the sink. "Try not to get lost okay" he caringly advised Bubbles.

The next day in the school bus, carrying the kids who signed up for the field trip, was just leaving Townsville. The girls, now being seven, were now in a bigger elementary school, and Ms Keane had actually gotten a job there, so she amazingly was still the girls teacher. "Now kids, remember to stay together going around this city. If you're all good, then I'll let you play in a park area of that city for a while, okay?"

The children happily agreed, and Ms Keane turned back to the bus driver and whispered "But take us to a nicer area of that city, considering its crime rate."

"I know" he whispered back. "Heard it's almost as bad as Chicago."

The Rowdyruff boys were floating down an old alleyway of the city looking for anything to scavenge, or at least find something of worth to pawn off for money in the garbage cans, since the owner of the pawn shop didn't really care who he was buying from.

The floated out onto a street which was pretty much empty. "C'mon let's go this way" Brick ordered. Boomer was about to follow his brothers, when with his super hearing, he heard something small drop to the floor. He turned around to see a wallet lying on the floor, and a man walking down the street, not realising he dropped it.

Boomer floated over to pick it up and looked inside, and his eyes lit up when he did. Inside was 160 dollars, as well as some ID. What luck! This was enough to feed his brothers for weeks. But then again, wasn't he taking this wallet without this man's knowledge?

Maybe if he found it on it's own, maybe it'd be different. But he knew this man dropped it, so if he just took it, wouldn't that be stealing? His brothers wanted to remain neutral right? But they needed this money, but they didn't need to add to their already tainted reputations. He sighed, and floated over.

"Excuse me sir?" he tapped his shoulder. The man turned around, and almost jumped back a bit, realising who was addressing him.

"You um, dropped this."

"Wha-, what do you want?" the man asked, becoming quite afraid.

"I, just want to give this back to you" Boomer tried to explain.

The man was half expecting this boy's brothers to come out and attack him at any moment. "Look I don't want any-"

"Don't you want it?" Boomer asked confused.

The man just started running, and by now a few more people were on the same street, and from their perspective, all they had seen was a man running from a Rowdyruff boy holding a wallet. And then the fear and accusations started.

"It's them! It's one of them, those Rowdyruffs from Townsville."

"Get the police, or anyone who can stop them."

People started running, and Boomer realised what was happening and dropped the wallet. Brick and Butch had heard what was going on and realised their brother wasn't with them. They flew to meet him and saw that people were running.

"Boomer what's going on? Did people see you?" Brick asked.

"Is that a wallet?" Butch saw on the floor.

"Guys, I found this wallet, I heard a guy drop it and decided to give it back to him, but he got scared and ran away, now people are accusing me of taking it forcefully" Boomer explained, panicking a bit.

"Are you sure that's what happened?" Brick had to be sure.

"Please Brick, you have to believe me."

"Alright, I'll take your word."

A police squad car then pulled up since it was patrolling nearby. Two officers got out and hid behind the car. "Jenkins call for backup. We know perfectly well what these boys can do, remember what happened over a year ago in Townsville?"

"Guys we should get out of here" Butch was about to fly away when Brick stopped him.

"No, that'll only confirm their suspicions. I'll-" he sighed "I'll try to reason with them."

"You can't reason with people who are prejudiced against you!" Butch yelled but Brick ignored him.

"One of them's coming closer!" the officer yelled.

"Look officer, my brothers and I are not going to do anything hostile. My brother told me that he was just trying to return a wallet."

The officers, surprised he was talking with them, asked "Why should we believe that story?"

"Well what evidence do you have? You can't technically do anything to us anyway unless we've done something" Brick pointed out.

"And how do we know you won't do anything in the future?" they questioned pointing their guns.

"If we were going to do anything drastic we would've done it by now."

That's when several squad cars arrived and now a couple of the citizens were looking out of their windows in the buildings watching the boys. The cops had their guns trained on the boys. One of the cops tried to negotiate with them.

"Now boys, since you technically haven't done anything, we can't either. But we can't be too careful, so we order you to leave this area of town." The officer turned to the others. "Keep your guns on 'em, just in case."

Brick floated back to his brothers. "Let's just fly out of here."

The boys started to fly, and as they did the citizens began throwing objects at them and jeering at them.

"Too scared to beat up the cops this time?" a man shouted.

"I hope they beat you up good in that prison!" a woman exclaimed.

"You're all probably full of hate aren't you!" The people kept throwing whatever they could verbally at them.

"Let's fly up" Brick suggested and the brothers flew up higher into the clouds.

Once there, Butch was once again unhappy. "See what they did? Why should we take anything of that from them?"

"Because we have no choice" Brick answered.

"Boomer why didn't you just take the wallet?" Butch turned to him.

"I was just trying to give it back."

"But if it had money inside, don't you think we should've kept it?"

"But I saw the guy drop it, isn't that the same as stealing?"

"You gotta bend the rules sometimes. Boomer all you've ever done is messed up. Like in the prison the day we were beaten to a bloody pulp."

"I'm only trying to do what's good for us."

"Now you sound like him" Butch pointed to Brick.

"Well if I'm such a burden, I'll look for food myself" Boomer flew down back into the city alone.

"Boomer!" Brick called out but Boomer was too far gone. Brick turned to Butch with an angry look.

"What? He's going to be fine, especially after just now he's not going to do anything that'll get him in trouble. He'll probably come crawling back to the warehouse soon anyway."

The children of Townsville's elementary school had just finished going around the art gallery, which to Bubbles wasn't as interesting as she would've thought, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. And as promised, Ms Keane took the children to park area, in a safer part of the city. Bubbles went on the swings the roundabouts, but it wasn't really that fun without her sisters around, and none of her other friends were on this field trip. Actually some things with her sisters started to become slightly less fun, as arguing did occur slightly more often.

She got bored eventually and floated away into the forest area. Hopefully Ms Keane wouldn't notice, and Bubbles decided to get back before anyone noticed. She came out the other side of the forest area and to a street. It was a fairly busy road and she floated above the roads exploring the area of the city.

Boomer was flying above the city, angry at first but that soon turned into slight sadness. He wished people would just love them, even though he knew that was impossible. As he was flying, he heard some screaming, and with his x-ray vision, he saw an apartment building on fire, and flew over to observe it. He saw the fire brigade getting people out of the building.

The blue ruff watched and decided not to get involved in anything. He wanted to be neutral, not good. And besides, after the way he and his brothers were treated, why should he? "Good luck with that."

Boomer was about to turn away, when he heard a woman scream quite panickingly to the firemen "My baby's still in there!" Boomer turned back and saw two parents watching the building burn, being held back by some of the firemen for their own safety.

The Rowdyruff floated there for a bit, not sure what to make of all this. He then realised, the baby was a helpless little person against something that could kill it. Just like him and his brothers in that prison. He'll have to do this quickly. He saw where the baby was with his x-ray vision and flew into the burning building.

He saw the baby lying on the bed, and he barely dodged a wooden plank falling down. 'Why is it that every time a building's on fire, a baby's left behind?' He picked up the baby.

Bubbles, whilst flying around, heard the commotion as well, and flew over to see what was going on. She gasped when she got there to see the burning building, and heard the parents on the ground worry about their baby still inside. This wasn't her city, but a baby was in danger.

She was about to fly in when she saw a blue streak zoom out of the building. The two parents saw it fly out of where their apartment was. Boomer flew down to them. "Is this yours?"

"Yes. Yes that's our baby!" the parents took a hold of it and hugged it. Boomer floated back up to get away from the people as quickly as possible. Bubbles couldn't believe what she just saw. The Rowdyruff boys, or Boomer at least, here? Saving a child?

As Boomer floated, he was going to fly away, just when he looked up to see his counterpart. He froze, confused and not sure what to do.

Bubbles looked back at him. "Boomer?"

 **Now this was definitely a long a chapter. Not sure if I got the stage of school right for what age the girls are in the US. I suppose this chapter became more about Boomer towards the end and his character, and next chapter we'll see Bubbles's interaction with the boys. Oh and you'll see that Wendy character the Professor mentioned later in the story.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	7. Their side of things

Boomer was shocked, to say the least. What was Bubbles doing here? Had the girls found them? Were they hunting them down? Then again, Bubbles did look genuinely surprised to see him. But Boomer didn't want any trouble, or anything that would get him into it. He zoomed away as fast as he could.

Bubbles floated there for a few seconds, trying to think over what happened. Confused as she was, she chased after Boomer. She had to find out more. The Rowdyruff boys were in this city? What if Boomer was going back to his brothers? She'd never stand a chance against them on her own. But she had just seen Boomer save an innocent child.

The last time she heard from them was when they were sentenced to that 18 month prison sentence, over 18 months ago. So this was where they were after they had been released? She used her x-ray vision to find him, and see if his brothers were around. Luckily, she saw him on his own, hiding in a forest area. She flew down to meet with him, keeping her distance.

Boomer thought he had lost her. Great, just great. First he messes up with that whole wallet business, with the people throwing things at them and jeering, now a Powerpuff was chasing him. Couldn't things just go right? Then with his super hearing he heard someone fly down not too far from him. He turned around to see her.

"Boomer? What are you doing here? In this city?" Bubbles questioned, keeping her guard up.

"I, I could ask the same thing to you" Boomer replied, slightly nervous. "Have you come for us?"

"Well, no, I didn't even know you were here. I'm on a field trip here with the school, my sisters aren't with me." Darn it, maybe she shouldn't have revealed that.

"Bubbles, honestly, I don't want any trouble." Boomer felt like the guy whom he was trying to return the wallet to. "I, can't get into any trouble, they'll only send us back" Boomer said that last part with some fear.

"Send you back?"

"The prison."

Bubbles didn't know what to make of all this. Was this a trick? Boomer sounded pretty genuine explaining this. And he did seem as surprised to see her as she was him. "Why are you in this city?" she asked quite curiously, not as defensive as she was before. "And you aren't causing any trouble or hurting anyone are you?"

"No! Brick said we can't do anything bad anymore, that we just have to find a way to survive. Please Bubbles, don't tell anyone in Townsville we're here, especially your sisters. I don't want any of them telling the people of this city to be even more afraid of us."

Bubbles raised an eyebrow. "Why did you save that child?"

Boomer looked to the floor. "I, I dunno, it was there, helpless, and it just reminded me of-, don't worry. Look I have to go, I don't think I should be talking to you anyway." Boomer tried to fly away, when the squirrel from the other day chirped at him. "Yeah, I can't talk now little buddy, I gotta go."

"A squirrel?" Bubbles watched her counterpart fly away. She turned to the squirrel and chirped at it too, and it chirped back, gesturing towards it's new home. "He made that? For you? And he can speak to you?"

The squirrel chirped a yes, and explained to her that he came here sometimes to collect wood for some reason. A reason which he didn't know. Bubbles thanked him and suddenly remembered she had to get back to her school mates. She zoomed back and managed to sneak back in just in time without anyone noticing. Whilst on the bus on the way back to Townsville, Bubbles had time to think. If the Rowdyruff boys were causing trouble in this city, surely she and her sisters would've heard about by now. And Boomer saving someone, and helping a squirrel? And what did he mean by Brick telling them not to get into trouble?

Maybe she should tell Blossom, and and leave the decision to her. Bubbles remembered their latest battle with Mojo Jojo, and what Blossom said on the day the boys were sentenced. But then again, maybe Bubbles herself should analyse this more, before making a decision. The blue puff decided that she should talk to Boomer again before telling her sisters. He was very clear about not wanting to fight her, and if the other became hostile then she should tail it out of there immediately.

When she got home that day, she was oddly quiet although her sisters didn't notice since they were too busy arguing when they were all having dinner.

"I told you Buttercup that playing kickball with a large rock was a bad idea" Blossom scolded.

"Oh C'mon that girl wasn't hurt too bad. Besides there were no kickballs left."

"You should have known that would've gotten you into trouble."

"It wouldn't have if you hadn't told!"

"Blossom Buttercup that's enough. Buttercup in this case your sister's right, Blossom knows not to do anything that could hurt innocent children" The Professor disciplined, and Blossom with a smug face poked her tongue out at Buttercup.

"Well I hope you had fun Bubbs. Definitely had a better day than me" the green puff folded her arms.

"Huh? Oh yes. The art gallery wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be, but Ms Keane did let us play in a park for a while."

"What? How's that fair?" Buttercup protested.

"I hope that was in a safer part of the city. That place has an incredibly high crime rate" the professor worried. "Then again if you can handle crime in this city. Not to mention giant monsters."

"Don't worry we were fine. Um, Professor. Since it's Saturday tomorrow, could I go out to the nature reserve?" Bubbles asked, and like the Professor just said, she would be fine to go out on her own. What he didn't know was that she was planning on leaving this city for a bit.

"Perhaps your sisters could go with you" the professor suggested.

"Pfft, I don't wanna see some dumb animals" Buttercup scoffed.

"Sorry Bubbles but I'll pass" Blossom said.

Bubbles was secretly glad that she was going on her own for obvious reasons. The next day she headed out like she said she would, whilst Blossom was busy reading a book and Buttercup occupied with her punching bag.

The puff flew down the streets of Townsville, hoping nothing would come up that would cause her to delay going to Founders city. She couldn't help but stop by a store window, since on display they had a whole drawing arts set, which they were selling inside. She had been saving her allowances over the past few weeks to buy one, and one more week she would have enough, she couldn't wait.

Bubbles quickly remembered her task she set herself, and flew out of Townsville, heading towards Founders. She remembered the squirrel telling her that Boomer collected wood in that same forest area. She'll look there first.

Back at the warehouse, Boomer had returned last night, and Brick had encouraged him and Butch to make up with one another. "Look Boomer, I'm sorry okay for what I said. I just want you to try to be more of a team player for us that's all" Butch apologised, trying to hide that he was secretly worried about his little bro.

"I, suppose it's okay Butch. I was just mad is all." Boomer let off telling them that he ran into Bubbles, not sure of what his brothers reaction would be.

"Well now that we know you will be fine out there on your own, in the daytime at least, could you go out and collect some firewood for tonight Boomer?" Brick asked since all the wood on the fire was burnt out.

"Sure thing Brick." Boomer headed out of the warehouse.

"And be back within an hour!"

"Brick he'll be fine. Just as long as he doesn't bring back anything stupid" Butch dismissed.

Bubbles finally arrived at Founders city, and it was as busy as Townsville was. She managed to find that same forest area again, and hoped it was a time where Boomer would come to collect firewood. She waited around for a while and nothing happened. 'I guess he's not going to be here-' Bubbles then saw a blue streak fly past some trees not too far from her. 'There.'

Boomer had a pile of dead wood in his arms while continuing to pick up more. He noticed on the ground that there was a pile of dirt in a rectangle shape, like someone had buried something. "Huh"

"Hey!"

"Ah!" Boomer dropped the pile of wood and saw once again his puff counterpart floating before him, giggling at his reaction.

"B-Bubbles? I, what are you-? I asked you if could leave us alone."

"Boomer could you just answer me this, honestly. Are you going to harm me?"

"I, no. I can't harm you" he answered honestly. "I can't hurt anyone. I don't want to get into trouble." He said this in a genuine believable tone.

"And what about your brothers?" Bubbles asked further.

"Brick certainly won't. He's the one who's telling us not to do anything that will get us into trouble. I'm not sure about Butch's reaction."

"Well in that case, I'm not going to harm you either." Bubbles's naivety made her thankfully believe him. "So what do you do now exactly? You're not causing any trouble right?"

"No we gave up the whole bad guy thing a while ago." Boomer knew by now he wasn't going to get away from her. "You didn't bring your sisters did you?"

"No, I'm here on my own. I didn't tell them about you three being here. I snuck away saying that I was going to visit the nature reserve in Townsville today."

"You lied? From what I hear that's not like you Bubbles."

"Well I had to see what you boys were like for myself. I'm not too sure what my sisters reaction would be to you guys either. I'm sure they'll be reasonable though if I told them."

"Please don't tell them though Bubbles, I haven't even told my brothers I've met you again yet."

Just then that same squirrel waved over to Boomer chirping at him. "Oh, yeah, hey little fella" Boomer meekly waved.

"I didn't know you could talk to squirrels Boomer?" Bubbles flew over to the rodent picking him up.

"Uh, yeah, rodents in general really. You talk to these animals as well?"

"Of course." Then another squirrel and a few smaller ones poked out of the den. "He has a family? Is this the den you made for them Boomer? That's so sweet."

Boomer rolled his eyes as Bubbles awed at the baby squirrels. Bubbles wanted to ask Boomer a lot of things, and he asked if they could fly somewhere safer, as someone might come along and recognise him. They flew to the top of a skyscraper where they were sat down next to each other.

"So Boomer, why did you give up the whole bad guy thing? Why is Brick telling you to do so?" Bubbles wondered.

The blue ruff decided to just tell her the plain truth, everything that happened to them. "Well, we were sent to an offshore prison as you know for eighteen months. And after a fight we got into in the canteen, the warden forbid us from using our powers, as well as two weeks in extreme isolation."

"What's that?" Bubbles asked.

Boomer shuddered at the memory. "It's a small room which you're not allowed out of. It's cold and lonely, with only a blanket and few toys to accompany you. I wasn't in there with Brick of Butch. We had our own separate ones."

Bubbles noticed the change of tone in his voice. He sounded afraid at those memories.

He continued "Not being able to use our powers we were vulnerable to everything. We didn't know which day or which hour we could be beaten next. The intimidation was scary, everyday we were afraid something like that would happen. The food was terrible and made me sick sometimes and the beds were uncomfortable, especially at night where it was freezing." He sighed. "My only comfort was a mouse, a pet I had named Henry."

Boomer looked down. "But then there was a day when we tried to defend another prisoner. The inmates turned on us, and since we were there the prison ordered to have duranium bars, and the inmates got a hold of them, and beat us unconscious with them. Henry was in my front pocket at the time. I woke up back in our cell after Brick woke up first and carried us back, and I realised that, that he was gone. My mouse."

Boomer looked like he was on the verge of tears, and Bubbles already had a few in her eyes. Never had she heard this much misery. She knew it didn't excuse what the boys did, but suffering through all of that. And a little mouse dying. "Boomer, I'm, I'm so sorry." She hugged him, and he didn't move, not minding the hug. "So that's what you meant by not wanting to be sent back."

"Yeah, but I keep worrying that the people of this city will send us back. We haven't done anything, but these days people take an accusation as evidence, especially when you're a Rowdyruff boy. After that business with the wallet, there's probably going to be a lot of that."

"Wallet?"

Boomer explained what happened with the wallet and the citizen.

"Couldn't you explain to them what happened?" asked Bubbles.

"Brick tried to, but we were casted away."

Bubbles paused for a second before asking, so where do you live now?"

"Well, to answer your question about what we do now, we just scavenge around for food, anything to drink, and just surviving really. We live in an old warehouse that's been abandoned, in a, not so nice area of town" Boomer explained everything that the boys had been doing.

"Could I see your brothers? Just as long as they won't hurt me." After hearing Boomer's story, she actually felt quite concerned about the other two Rowdyruffs. Boomer didn't know about that. He had no idea how Butch would react. And he did not know if this was all some ploy by the girls or anyone else to capture them. He remembered when she dressed up as him to fool his brothers. But, she did sound very sincere.

"Okay, I'll take you to our home. No tricks okay."

"Promise." Bubbles smiled.

Boomer remembered to take some firewood just before he left too, and he lead Bubbles back to their warehouse. The two floated outside the warehouse. "Um, Brick, I got the firewood."

Brick and Butch were inside playing a card game to pass the time. "Well come on in then."

"And, well, um, I have Bubbles with me."

Brick and Butch stopped playing, and both looked in the direction of Boomer's voice. "Bubbles? As in, the Powerpuff Bubbles?" Butch exclaimed.

"He's not kidding." Brick saw two silhouettes outside the window. "Butch you stay here."

"What the hell is that kid doing? Is he trying to get us hurt? What about the other two?" Butch questioned.

"You stay here, and I'll find out. But keep your guard." Brick floated out to meet his brother holding a pile of firewood, and his brother's counterpart floating next to him. Bubbles met eyes with the ruff leader, and like Boomer, he didn't change much physically. Except that he had cut his hair so it was short again. Brick looked around to see if the other puffs were here, but he didn't see or hear anything. "Boomer could we talk for a minute?"

The blue ruff looked to Bubbles with an expression as to say 'could you wait here a second?' He followed his brother inside and dumped the wood on the floor. Butch wasn't happy. "What is she doing here? Did you meet with those puffs? What did you tell them?"

"Butch quiet down" Brick ordered. "But really Boomer, what _is_ she doing here?"

"Brick, I haven't left this city or intended to meet up with them or anything like that. In fact it was just Bubbles I ran into, yesterday actually. She was on a field trip with her school here, without her sisters, and she found me again today." Boomer told his brother. "And I told her just the plain truth. What happened to us, how we don't intend to do anything malic-, malicio-"

"Malicious" Brick finished for him. "Okay we have to be careful about this, remember when she dressed up as you?"

"That's why I don't trust her!" Butch interrupted.

"Boomer you stay in here, I'll talk to her, alone." Brick flew outside leaving Boomer and Butch to argue. He met with Bubbles waiting patiently outside. "Boomer told me how he met with you, or, how you found him. And you're here on your own obviously."

"Yeah, I had to lie to be here" Bubbles explained not too proud of it.

"Plus they are no ear pieces on you and you wouldn't have approached us in such a direct way, not without your sisters at least. And if you did tell them about us, they'd be here with you" Brick figured.

"Well after seeing Boomer yesterday, I wasn't really sure if I should tell them. I'm pretty sure they'd be reasonable and everything, but I wanted to find out for myself before I decided to do anything" Bubbles explained.

"Hm, very smart of you" Brick observed.

"I-, really?"

"Analysed a situation before acting on it. I have to do that to look after those two" Brick referred to the ruffs inside.

"Huh, well, about looking after them, Boomer told me everything. So you guys are homeless then?"

"I don't know why you're surprised, we were homeless before we went to prison. All we're really doing now is the same thing just without the crime."

"Yeah, Boomer said about not wanting to be sent back." Bubbles never laid a thought on it before, but it now occurred to her that apart from trying to destroy her and her sisters, the worst things they ever did were steal and beat up people for food. And that assault on the police before as well. None of which was justified but she never considered their side of things.

"Bubbles." She looked up and saw Brick had a pretty serious expression on his face. "Look, my brothers and I, we sincerely don't want to harm anyone. We just want to lay low, do what we can to survive, and _try_ not to draw attention to ourselves. Now I'm not sure what your sisters will say, but please, we don't want any trouble. We've already probably gotten ourselves into that anyway if Boomer's told you everything. And don't worry, he's not in trouble. But, we just want to get on with our lives, with no trouble."

Bubbles had never heard Brick talk this seriously. They genuinely did not want to do anything bad, and Brick spoke almost like he was pleading to her. How terrible must that prison have been? She looked inside the warehouse. "You live in there? It looks quite dirty."

"Yeah it's quite drafty too, but it's not too different to what we were use to over the past eighteen months. Has a rat problem too, but Boomer seems to like their company."

"And you're sure you're alright for food?"

"We'll look around some more. We'll find something, don't worry."

"Well, okay. I'd better go now anyway." Bubbles wasn't sure she was ok with leaving them like this. "Could I say goodbye to Boomer first?"

"Sure. Boomer!" Brick called and Boomer floated out.

"I just wanted to say goodbye. You boys take of yourselves okay?" She paused, and thought of something before saying "Could I, could I come visit you boys, tomorrow maybe? It's just, I would just like to make sure you guys are alright. You seem pretty genuine, and you're living like this. Could I do that?"

Boomer looked to Brick, who eventually replied "Alright. One of us is bound to be in here at some point in the day. Come in the afternoon."

"Okay, I'll see you then to check on you. Bye boys." The Powerpuff flew off leaving a blue streak behind her, and Brick and Boomer floated back inside.

"So, is everything alright Brick?"

"Everything's fine Boomer, don' worry."

"What's going on? Where's the puff?" Butch questioned.

"She's gone home, and she's visiting us tomorrow" Brick replied.

"What? Why? Didn't you stop her from doing that?" Butch protested.

"I let her" Brick floated back down to his playing cards.

"You what! What if she brings her sisters? Or the cops? She's knows where we are!"

"I don't think she's going to. She showed no signs of deceit" Brick explained.

Butch couldn't believe his brothers were okay with this. It may be just one of them, but the Powerpuffs were their enemy for as long as he could remember. This would only backfire on them. "Alright Brick, I trust you. But if this all goes wrong, do not expect my help."

Brick looked at him before saying quietly "Fine."

Bubbles made it back to Townsville and to her house. "Well you were certainly gone a long time" Blossom observed as Bubbles floated into their room.

"Yeah, well I did have a lot of fun at the nature reserve."

"Well good for you. We've not had a single call from the mayor all day, it's been so boring" Buttercup complained. "Not a thing from Mojo Jojo, nor Fuzzy lumpkins, Sedusa, or just some average criminal punks."

Bubbles had time to think on the way home. She considered telling the girls and professor about the boys, despite what Boomer said. They needed help, desperately. She couldn't just leave them in that state. She thought she'd bring them up gingerly. "Well, didn't the Rowdyruff boys get realised a while back?"

"Oh man, now that would be a challenge" Buttercup put her fists together.

"You're right Bubbles. Strange they haven't done anything yet" Blossom wondered.

"Well, maybe, perhaps they're not interested in doing anything bad anymore?" Bubbles phrased this as a suggestion. Her sisters looked at her before laughing.

"Yeah sure, whatever Bubbles" Buttercup wiped a tear.

"Oh poor sweet innocent little Bubbles" Blossom had the 'I know everything' tone again. "And chemical x will be able to fully bring back the dead before that happens. Look, Bubbles. Remember what I said about them always being an enemy They'll definitely try something soon, and when they do, I'll be right there to see them stopped."

"I'll?" Buttercup looked at her.

Blossom sighed. " _We_ will stop them."

"Huh, sure girls" Bubbles laughed nervously. "Whatever you say." Bubbles floated out the room. 'Maybe I should wait first.'

 **Another long, but quick chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. I had some free time today so that's why I was able to write one so quickly. Anyway Bubbles has now discovered the boys and I wanted her to feel sorry for them so she would agree to meet up with them again, after being convinced they're not a threat. Plus her naivety plays into that.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	8. Hostage crisis

The next afternoon, Bubbles was trying to think of a good excuse to leave the house on her own all day. She said she'd check on the boys in the afternoon, but the phone kept ringing requiring the girls help. They were busy all day.

"See now this is more like it!"

"Buttercup stay focused. We have a robbery in progress" Blossom scolded.

"At a bank? But it's Sunday!"

"Not at a bank, a chemical factory."

"Who'd wanna rob that?"

The robbers were quickly apprehended by the girls, after Blossom ordered them to fly at super speed to grab them one at a time. One of the robbers was quite muscular, and Bubbles was having quite some trouble with him. He got the best of her, knocking her to the ground. He clearly knew some martial arts. Bubbles was lucky though, she zapped a metal pipe above him, making it fall down on the fiend.. After all stolen chemicals were returned, the girls flew home. The blue puff was becoming a little more worried that she wasn't going to be able to visit the boys, and was currently being teased by Buttercup.

"Geez I can't believe you let that guy best you Bubbs, I mean the way he struck you to the ground, and you were there all helpless, there's no shame in admitting defeat sometimes."

"I had it under control!" Bubbles protested.

"Yeah, sure."

"Girls please" Blossom stopped them. "The professor's about to give us our allowances."

"Really?" Both Bubbles and Buttercup's, but mainly Buttercup's eyes lit up. "Yeah, speaking of which, you were beaten by all those villains that time you knocked their teeth out" Bubbles pointed out.

"Shut up" her sister had no better argument.

Professor Utonium gave the girls their Allowances and Bubbles finally thought of an excuse. "Professor, could I go out and see all the arts and crafts items they have downtown?"

"Okay but don't spend all your allowance money Bubbles, and be back before it get's dark."

"I promise." She flew out of the house and headed in the direction of Founders city. She had her money she saved in the past few weeks in her pocket. It wasn't that much, but enough to buy that arts drawing set, which she decided she would do on the way home.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Above the city of Founders, Brick and Boomer were not having very much luck finding food. Not anything in the garbage cans that looked safe enough to eat, not a single dime on the street to be found. "Boomer go check on Butch back at the warehouse, make sure he's fine."

"It's Butch, I'm sure he is, but okay." Boomer flew back to their home where Butch was sat there looking bored out of his mind. "Hey bro."

"Hey" Butch replied in an unamused tone.

Boomer stood there for a bit, trying to start a conversation. "Bubbles hasn't shown up yet. I wonder if she's actually coming?"

"I hope she doesn't" Butch muttered, but just a few minutes later, the blonde puff knocked on the window and let herself in.

"Hi boys. Just checking on you like I said, where's Brick?"

"He's out looking for food for us. Don't know when he'll be back." Boomer flew up to meet her.

'Ha, check up on us' Butch thought. 'Like we're criminals under house arrest that can't be trusted.' Butch was not too keen on just letting a former enemy in and out like this. It was like some police officer checking a recently released prisoner. She was probably reporting his brothers current status to her sisters. But then again, why would they send her? It's not like Bubbles was the smartest of the puffs or even the toughest. Even if she was, why would they send her on her own? Maybe this was all a trap, but he and his brothers were not doing anything anymore that was criminal so it wouldn't matter.

"Where did you get that mark from?" Boomer noticed the tiniest of marks on her face. He wasn't all that trusting about Bubbles either, but he decided just to try and talk to her to see if she was hostile.

"Oh, well earlier today while crime fighting, which there was so much of today which was why I'm so late, I was up against this guy who was quite big, and I think he knew some type of martial art, and well, he countered my attack."

"You should've let him attack you first, then you'd have the upper hand" Butch remarked.

"Yeah, Buttercup was making fun of me for it."

"Ah well, siblings do that. I gotta put up with ol' happy over there" Boomer pointed to Butch, who didn't say anything and Bubbles giggled. The blonde ruff could tell that his brother wasn't too happy about Bubbles being here, but then he got an idea. "Gee, I wish there was someone here who knew martial arts to help you."

"Yeah" Bubbles sighed.

"I mean there's no one here good enough too-" Boomer was interrupted.

"You block their attacks first, then you strike with your palm" Butch turned around. "Of course you two idiots wouldn't know that."

"Well, could you show us then? If we don't know." Boomer winked at Bubbles and she smiled, realising what he was doing.

"Yeah, Butch, could you show me? You seem to be pretty good in this sort of field" Bubbles asked.

"I, I am? Of course yes. Fine, I could show you a few moves."

"Great, but, I'd really go and check on Brick, see where he is. Be back soon." Boomer was about to fly away when Bubbles stopped him.

"Wait, Boomer, do you have to go?"

"Don't worry" he whispered. "Butch hasn't warmed up to you that much so I figured this would be a great way for him to do so." Boomer winked and flew off. Bubbles wasn't too sure. She had talked to Boomer the most out of the three of them and preferred for him to be around. But she accepted and turned to the green ruff.

"So what moves do you know?"

Butch figured if she was going to be around she might as well be helpful to pass the time. "Okay, I'll show you some things I know, like I said earlier, let your opponent strike first, and put your hands on their forearm to push their punches away. Pretend to try to punch me."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Bubbles did so, and to her surprise, Butch pushed both her arms as she swung so that she missed him. "Then you use a palm strike." He pretended to palm strike Bubbles but stopped just before he hit her, causing her to flinch.

"But Butch, we don't have palms."

"You know what I mean. After the palm strike, go for a kick in the stomach." The two chemical x users were just mock fighting at first, but it eventually became physical, in a training way. "Try to go for the opponent's nose. Their nose isn't going to get any stronger unlike their body" Butch advised. The blue puff didn't quite get it all however, and ended being bested by Butch. Maybe she should've stayed home after all. "You're clearly a long way from perfection. But I suppose you do have potential."

Butch floated down and offered his hand. Bubbles couldn't believe it. Was he, helping her up? She took his hand and stood up. "Wouldn't you just leave on the floor?"

"If we were fighting for real, then no. But, in a martial arts training session, you have to be respectable of your opponent. Even if it is a puff." He floated away. "But don't get any ideas, we're not friends, not you and me, and I don't know about the other two. Honestly I don't know what Brick is thinking letting you visit us."

Bubbles looked at him, a bit intimidated, but mainly curious. "Why do you hate me so much Butch? If I'm a superhero, and you're not a villain anymore, then why do you dislike me so much?"

"Because I-, because you-" Butch couldn't really think of a legitimate reason. Well obviously it was because of their past defeats but wasn't that just because the boys were doing wrong and the girls were just doing their job? But something occurred to Butch. His brothers could've been far worse. They had incredible powers that rivaled the girls and all they chose to do with them was try to survive and cause a bit of mayhem every now and then. They could've made it far worse for the Powerpuff girls if they wanted to, rather than choosing than just to destroy them. And maybe they should've, let those girls have a taste of the real world, instead of their little happy pampered family life-.

An explosion was heard by both the ruff and puff with their super hearing. They looked at each other. "Wanna bet Brick and Boomer are involved?" Butch sighed, and out of curiosity, they flew out to investigate.

A few minutes earlier, Brick was looking through the trash cans in a lane of the side of a build, and after he lifted the lid off of one, he couldn't believe it. Someone had thrown out a whole picnic basket, with still some food in it. 'Now who'd want to throw out that? Ah who cares, this is enough to feed us for the next two days. Providing it's clean.'

He picked it up and was about to fly away, when he heard a crash. He turned around to see a car crashed into the front of a shopping mall. He heard police sirens in the distance. The car was probably stolen. Brick had flown above the streets of this city many times, and things like that happened all the time. And apart from that one incident saving that man in the alleyway, he never got himself involved. He started flying away, as the people who stole the car ran into the shopping mall, armed.

Boomer flew back to the area he left Brick. He was somewhere around this area by the shopping mall. And like his brother, he too had heard the car crash into the front of the mall. He heard an alarm and people running off screaming. The people who had stolen the car had ran into the mall itself. 'Well they're never going to get away from the police in there, unless' Boomer used his x-ray vision and saw the criminals had guns. They were armed. And there were five of them. 'Surely the security guards are armed aren't they-, oh no.' Boomer had seen that the security guards with firearms had been shot dead.

No, it wasn't Boomer's job to do anything. This was something out of his control. Brick knew best, and he had to obey his brother's wishes. Saving the baby from the fire was just a one off incident. But his curiosity made him watch the event unfold. Some people managed to get out of the mall, and ran behind the police cars. Boomer could hear one of the policemen on the car radio.

"Sir, the shoppers are telling us the suspects ran up to the upstairs levels of the building, and they've taken hostages. They don't want anyone near them. We're awaiting more squad cars where we'll try to negotiate."

Boomer remembered back to when he and his brothers assaulted the police outside that supermarket in Townsville. There was a very strange parallel with this. He doubted five armed criminals could do that sort of damage to the police. But then again, they could kill some of them. Boomer and his brothers never did that. The blue ruff then heard something else. He heard a little girl about his age, next to a police officer.

"Officer, my older brother's in there. He told me to run, he hasn't come out!"

"Okay don't worry little girl, we're going to get everyone out" the officer replied.

Boomer looked at this little girl, holding onto the officer, with a few tears in her eyes. He remembered how his brothers were beaten, threatened, and on one instance, he almost lost them. This little girl could lose hers too. He quickly flew over. "Excuse me, uh, what's your brother's name?"

The girl, a little surprised, answered "Peter, Peter Wells."

Boomer nodded and flew straight into the shopping mall. "Wha-? Hey wait!" the officer next to the girl realised who that was just now.

The Rowdyruff entered and looked around with his x-ray vision, trying to see if there was anyone around. He did see some people in some of the stores upstairs, looking like they were hiding. Boomer flew up and entered one of the stores, where he saw some customers and employees hiding. "Is anyone in here called Peter Wells?" he called out.

Upon seeing him, everyone inside flinched back, not knowing what he would do, from what they heard about the Rowdyruffs. "Please don't hurt us."

"I don't want to, is anyone in here called Peter Wells?" Boomer called out again. Getting no response, he flew out and looked around some more. He then spotted someone who looked like an older teenage boy hiding behind a plant pot. The ruff flew over. "Hey."

The boy jumped back. "What? I don't want any trouble!"

"Are you Peter Wells?" Boomer was becoming quite frustrated.

"Y-yeah, I am."

"And do you have a little sister about that high?" Boomer made a height gesture with his arms.

"Yeah, I promised I'd take her to a toy store here, how do you-"

"Okay good." The Rowdyruff picked up the boy and flew him straight outside and lowered him to the girl.

The little girl gasped and ran to hug her brother who hugged back. "Lucy! You're alright!"

"Peter!" the girl turned to Boomer. "Thank you! Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. I'd better go now, I-" the ruff looked up to see other shoppers looking at him, and then looking down at the girl and her brother. He realised what they were thinking. "I, look, I can't save everyone in there, I shouldn't-"

"Please, my husband hasn't answered his phone, he could be in danger!" a woman begged. Boomer knew these people still had family inside.

"No I-, I shouldn't, I, aw" he groaned a bit seeing their faces before flying back in. With his super speed, Boomer grabbed all the people he could find in the mall, both shoppers and employees, and flew them outside. The only people left were the ones being held hostage by the gunmen.

Brick floated away from the mall still carrying the basket, about to fly back to the warehouse. With his super hearing however, he heard what sounded like something flying back and forth really fast. The exact sound that they made when they were flying. He turned back to see a dark blue streak zooming in and out of the mall. That could only be one person. "No, he can't,"

Brick zoomed down and saw the crowd reuniting with each other, presumably family members that were trapped inside. Brick waited for Boomer to fly back out, but he never did. Brick realised, five gunmen ran into the mall but the police hadn't gone in yet, that meant there were hostages, and if Boomer was getting everyone out, which that was what it looked like, and he suddenly stopped, that meant he was trying to handle the gunmen. Now Brick knew normal guns wouldn't be able to harm Boomer, but he was more worried about what people would think about a Rowdyruff and a hostage situation.

Brick couldn't go in holding the basket. He looked and saw an alleyway nearby and left the basket behind a dumpster, hoping no homeless person would take it. The ruff leader flew into the mall and searched for his brother, and as he guessed, Boomer was on the outside of the store the gunmen were in, holding their hostages, and they had not seen him. Brick flew and pulled Boomer to the side.

"Brick?"

"Boomer, what the hell are you doing?"

"These people are in danger, they had family outside."

"And what do you think people are going to believe, when they hear the words 'hostage crisis' and 'Rowdyruff boy' together?" Brick scorned.

"Well they can believe what they want, there was a little girl outside who was our age and could've lost her brother. Sound familiar?" Boomer argued.

"Yes, it does, which is why I'm getting you out of here."

One of the gunmen stepped outside the store to see what was going on, to see if the cops had entered the building yet. Boomer then zoomed straight into the gunman and knocked him far back. Another came out holding a hostage, and he noticed Boomer. He became quite scared at seeing the Rowdyruff and his unconscious accomplice. He pointed the gun to hostage's head to the Rowdyruff couldn't make any moves against him. Boomer, who didn't know quite what to do, glanced at Brick for help, and the red ruff just groaned and floated up behind the gunman, knocking him out from behind. "Go" he said to the hostage.

Brick had only done that to help his brother, and now he had seen Boomer was determined to rescue the rest of the hostages. But the gunmen would only kill the hostages if they saw the ruffs, and Brick did not want them to be involved in an incident with a dead hostage. "We'll have to be quick, I'll take the guns from them, and you knock them out" Brick whispered. Boomer didn't know whether to feel surprised or glad his brother decided to help him, but then nodded at Brick's plan.

A red streak suddenly flew into the store and stole all the guns from the gunmen's hands. It was followed by a blue streak which knocked the rest of them out. "I'll tie 'em up and hand 'em to the police, you get these people out of here" Brick ordered Boomer and grabbed the unconscious criminals.

Boomer tried to help the hostages up, who were surprised at the Rowdyruffs being here, and what they just did. They still remained skeptical of the boys and kept their distance, despite Boomer leading them out. One of the hostages had a dog with them, which Boomer couldn't help but smile at and pet it. Brick looked at the unconscious criminals he had tied up and was carrying. He could not deny he had felt something, something familiar, upon seeing a group of innocent people being threatened by criminals. It made him think about the people he was carrying. All they were doing was causing chaos, and hurting people, much like, much like his brothers used to do. It was weird seeing it from the outside. It made him feel angry, not at himself or his brothers, but at his past, and at these-.

The small fire on the car that had crashed into the front of the mall quickly started spreading, and Brick realised "The gas tank. Boomer! Get all these people out now! And get yourself out!" The red ruff flew outside and dumped the tied up criminals behind the squad cars, whilst his brother used his super speed to fly everyone outside. Boomer turned and realised, he left the dog behind.

"Oh no!" he flew back, grabbed the dog, and on his flight back, the car exploded. Boomer was caught up in part of the explosion but he did what he could to save the animal. He fell on the floor, and luckily the dog was alright. People ducked for cover when the car exploded, and Brick nervously looked for his brother.

"Boomer!" he spotted him on the floor and flew to him. The dog was helping the blue ruff up, and apart from a few bruises and scratches, both were alright. Brick helped Boomer fly away to on top of a building close by.

"Ow" Boomer complained holding his head. Although he was a chemical x user so nothing like that explosion could do any damage, Boomer's head was hurting like crazy.

"You'll be fine Booms, just a bit of pain temporarily."

"A _bit?_ " Boomer was lying on his back holding his head. A green and light blue streak suddenly headed towards them and stopped revealing Butch and Bubbles who had come to see what had happened.

"What happened here?" Bubbles asked seeing all the people in front of the mall and destroyed car.

"A hostage crisis. Boomer here decided it'd be a good idea to intervene and help get the people outside, and stop the assailants. I went in myself to stop him and I, I got caught up in it too" Brick admitted. "You shouldn't have done that Boomer."

"There was a little girl whose brother was inside, and other people had family members too, I couldn't do nothing" Boomer explained.

"You got caught in that explosion."

"I couldn't just let that dog get caught in it too."

Bubbles looked down at the scene and the people getting treated. "Did you two save them all? Including the dog?" she couldn't help but awe at the animal.

"Yeah, we did, ah!" Boomer's head was still hurting and Bubbles looked down at her counterpart and gasped to see him bruised all over, after just saving an innocent animal and group of people. Something inside her made her feel so sorry for him, despite being enemies the last time two years ago, despite being a former adversary, she floated down next to Boomer and rested his head in her lap, hugging him and trying to comfort him. Maybe it had something to do about him telling her how he was beaten to near death in prison. Boomer seemed surprised, but he didn't protest against it. In his current state, he didn't actually mind this right now.

"What happened to staying neutral?" Butch asked Brick with a half amused tone.

"I had no choice. Boomer went in there himself to get them and, and I suppose it wouldn't look good on our part in the public eye if we didn't do anything" Brick sighed, and Bubbles noticed.

"And after that argument about not getting involved in anything the first day we came here" Butch turned away.

"Just get back to the warehouse. I found some food for us earlier, I'm going to get it." Brick flew off.

"I'll help Boomer back to the warehouse, if that's alright?" Bubbles proclaimed.

"Whatever" Butch flew back in the direction of their 'home'.

"So, was he nice?" Boomer joked.

Brick landed to where he left the picnic basket. "Good it's still here" he said relieved. But the basket seemed lighter. He opened it up and saw that most of it had gone. Only two sandwiches left. A homeless person must have gotten to it after all. Brick just sighed disappointed. He and his brothers had hardly eaten today, and it looks like they hardly will. He closed the lid and flew back to the warehouse. It was evening now and all the shops were closing apart from a few convenient stores. Brick got back and dropped the basket on the floor. "I managed to find this. Don't worry it's clean."

Bubbles realised how late it was, and remembered she had said she'd only gone out to spend her Allowance money. What would the Professor and her sisters say? "I should really be going now boys. It's late as it is. You get better okay Boomer." She went to fly out the window.

"Don't worry about me" Boomer's head was feeling a lot better. He had experienced worse pain anyway when he was beaten with Duranium bars in prison.

"Okay, bye I guess." She flew out the window and was about to head back to Townsville, when she remembered about the boys struggle to live, just to find a decent meal everyday. Did Brick really find a whole picnic basket? She floated outside and watched with her x-ray vision and super hearing.

"Did you really find a whole picnic basket?" Boomer asked quite excited. "We've hardly eaten, or eaten at all today."

"It's, not much, just a few sandwiches" Brick explained in a quiet voice. The ruff leader stared down at the basket's continents. It was only enough for two of them, and the three of them had hardly eaten. "Here you go boys" he handed them a sandwich each.

"Aren't you going to have one?" Butch asked.

"No I, I've already eaten one. When I first found it, and I was just so hungry I couldn't help myself" Brick lied. "Anyway, I suppose you could eat that then we start a fire and go to sleep. It's a bit early I know, but what else is there to do?" Brick began rubbing two sticks together to create a fire. Suddenly he felt his stomach growl which he tried to hide.

"What was that?" Boomer asked.

"Nothing, just the fire crackling" explained Brick. Boomer was just too tired from the mall incident that he eat his food and went straight to sleep. Butch knew from the tone in his voice, Brick wasn't telling the whole truth, but he didn't want to argue. Bubbles watched from outside. Like Butch, she knew Brick was lying. She couldn't help but feel her heartbreak at this, if only she could-, wait.

She took out the allowance money she had in her pocket. She was saving this for that arts and crafts set she wanted, saving up over weeks. Something she was going to buy hopefully today on the way home. She looked down at Brick, making a bed for himself out of newspaper. She sighed. Bubbles flew down to the nearest still open store and grabbed a large sandwich in her hands, and went up and paid for it.

"Aren't you that Powerpuff girl from Townsville?" the employee asked.

"Yeah, just this please" she gave him the money.

"Hey um, I heard that those Rowdyruffs, or whatever they're called, from your city are here. Are you here looking for them?" the employee asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'll, find them eventually" Bubbles nervously laughed.

The puff flew back to the warehouse and by now both Boomer and Butch were asleep. Brick was sat holding his legs close to his body by the fire when he noticed Bubbles fly back in. "Hi" she could only think to say.

"I thought you were going home?" he wondered.

"I uh, wanted to buy you this" she handed him the sandwich. "I had some of my allowance money with me."

"Why did you bring that?" Brick asked.

"Well" Bubbles sat down. "I was saving up originally. There was an arts and drawing set I wanted, but I suppose this is more important."

Brick thought for second. "You didn't have to buy this you know. But, thank you Bubbles." He didn't look her in the eye.

"Brick?" Bubbles began. "Why did you-, I mean, what I'm trying to say is, Boomer told me about the prison and everything, and well, you seem a lot different from the last time I met you. Was it really that bad?"

Brick didn't say anything, and just looked down at the floor, a look of slight pain on his face. The only noise was the fire crackling. Bubbles decided not to press that further. "What happened in the mall today?" she asked about the incident today instead.

Brick decided to talk about that. "Well, I was trying to find something like this" he referenced the sandwich. "And I saw Boomer fly the shoppers and employees out of the building. From what I saw it was some hostage situation. I told these two that were are not going to get involved in anything, so I originally went in to get Boomer out. But, he wouldn't leave until the shoppers were safe. So I helped him do that, that's all."

"But Boomer told me he followed your plan. When me and my sisters are fighting crime, we always follow Blossom's plans, and most of the time we succeed because of that. She always knows the right thing to do. And don't you think, that this city might need a bit of that crime fighting too?" Bubbles implied.

"Then I suggest you and your sisters start fighting here then. Just don't disturb us" Brick countered. "Look Bubbles, like I said before, I only want my brothers to live and be safe. You see, the real world, and people, it's not a pretty thing, and this city is full of the scum that we were locked away with for eighteen months. I don't want them hurting my brothers again. Thank you Bubbles for not telling anyone else about us, you'd better get home now."

Bubbles took in everything of what he had said, and just nodded. "Sure." She floated up towards the window.

"And Bubbles" Brick called and she looked back down. "You seem like you're giving us a second chance, instead of just attacking us. I'm grateful for that, thank you."

Bubbles stared for a second, then smiled back and waved. She started to head home, a happier feeling replacing her worry of what her sisters and the professor would say.

Sorry everyone for the long wait, had a bit of writer's block with this one. I think I already said this before but, I want the boys character's to develop into being heroes and their attitudes towards it, rather than becoming heroes straight away. And also Bubbles's experience with them.

Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.


	9. Meeting someone

Bubbles arrived back home in Townsville at pretty much sundown, and the Professor was not happy about it too. "Bubbles I'm surprised at you, it's not like you to stay out this late. What were you doing?"

"Oh I was just browsing the shops and kinda got distracted, I didn't buy anything in the end. Anyway you said to be back before it gets dark, and it's sundown now" Bubbles reminded him in an innocent tone.

"It's a good thing too otherwise you'd be in trouble young lady. Now you girls run yourselves a bath and straight to bed, you have school tomorrow" the Professor said in a softer tone.

Naturally, the other two puffs, especially Blossom, were suspicious of what their sister was doing in that time. "Just what were you doing all afternoon Bubbles?" asked the eldest sister whilst all three of them flew upstairs.

Bubbles knew they would ask questions, so she came up with some excuses on the way home. "Oh I was originally going to buy something I wanted, but I kinda got distracted." She told them the same story as she gave the Professor.

"So did you get the thing you wanted then?" asked Buttercup.

"Oh, uh, no. They sold out when I first got there." Thankfully her sisters believed her and this made her think. She wasn't going to be able to give excuses like this all the time when she wanted to check on the boys. So she decided on something. Every night she would sneak out when everyone else was asleep, and fly to the city of Founders where she could hopefully talk to the boys for a while before they went to sleep.

It might be tricky. Some nights she and her sisters go out on patrol until a certain time. She would probably just have to give seeing the ruffs a miss on those nights. Plus she would be losing sleep, and she wasn't exactly a morning person as it is, especially in recent months. Heck what was she thinking? Worrying about losing sleep when the boys had to make do with cardboard boxes and old newspapers. Well tomorrow night, she would sneak out when her sisters were fast asleep, and fly over to Founders city to see the boys. Starting tomorrow night.

The next day in Founders city Brick was sitting on the edge of a rooftop of a small building. He seemed to be in deep thought, with a far away look on his face. In truth, he was thinking over the future, and what he and his brothers would be doing. It was a struggle to survive now. Would they still be doing what they were doing now? Still scraping the streets to find something to live on? Would they even still be alive by then? He didn't want to consider that option. He should just focus on the present right now, keeping his brothers alive. And right now, something caught his attention.

On a bench below, someone was listening to the radio on their phone out loud, which was reporting news. Brick could hear it easily with his super hearing. It was talking about them.

" _The mall is hoped to be reopened soon after the attack yesterday. Surprisingly, two of the Rowdyruff boys were on the scene as well, actually helping the police force it seems, which is ironic given their attack on Townsville's police force eighteen months ago. It has been indeed confirmed that the three boys are in Founders city and what their motives are remain unclear. They rescued several hostages and apprehended the gunmen. A few days earlier witnesses reported the blue one rescuing a couple's infant child from a burning apartment building."_

'Boomer did what?' Brick listened.

" _The city's chief of police, chief Mccoy, has warned everyone to keep a distance from the Rowdyruffs and report any sighting of them, as we still don't know whether the boys are dangerous or not. In other news the investigation is ongoing of a murder last night in storage room 5B at the Founders docks. CCTV managed to capture the identity of the assailant as Joe Briggs, a known hitman for the mob, who has been at large for several months and the award money has been moved up to five thousand dollars."_

Brick's eyes widened at that. $5000, just think of what he and his brothers could buy with that. They wouldn't have to go hungry for ages. But who was he kidding? Was he honestly considering going out there and hunt down an assassin? That would make him a hypocrite, considering how he told his brothers not to get involved in anything like that. But the thought of all that money to live off, it was just too tempting. But would he even catch this hitman? How did he ever hope to find him? But the thought of his brothers not having to sleep on cardboard was a good enough motivation. Well, if there's one place to start, it was the crime scene.

Brick flew up and headed in the direction of the docks. Since he's already been in the limelight with the incident at the mall, he'll have to do this quickly and discretely. 'I just hope they pay it in cash.'

Brick arrived at the storage room 5B, which was pretty much just a small warehouse, similar to the one he and his brothers were living in. It had been taped off by police and looked abandoned. He flew in an open window and saw the white line which signified where the body of the murder victim was. Brick hoped to find something that could lead him to the hitman, this Joe Briggs. Some sort of trail perhaps. But if the police couldn't find something like that, how could he? He would just have to try his best. Brick observed the scene that lay before him. There were a few boxes and items knocked over.

'There obviously was a scuffle, in that case the killer was close to the victim when he killed him. Strange. Assassins normally prefer to take out their victims long range with a firearm.' He remembered talking to and overhearing criminals with similar careers during his time in the prison. Brick noticed the fuse box on an upper level that had been opened, and right next to it was a broken railing, indicating someone must've fallen.

He flew up to the fuse box and noticed a few switches flicked. 'From up here, this would've been the perfect place to shoot someone, but the fuses weren't working, so the victim came up here to check the fuses box, and discovered the hitman. It looks like the victim tried to defend himself when the hitman pulled a gun, and they fell down to the floor, where the scuffle started. The victim tried to run, but Joe Briggs must've finally fired his gun which killed the victim there. And that explains the blood stains' Brick concluded.

He remembered everything he read in those criminology books in the prison. 'Surely in that fall the hitman must have been hurt too, and stumbled out before the police could arrive.'

Brick flew out of the building and down by the door he guessed the hitman would've come out of. He looked around with his x-ray vision, and by the wall of the building, saw what looked like to be a blood stain on the floor, but only visible through his super vision, meaning there wasn't a lot of it, unlike the victim's. But it lead a trail. The hitman, Joe Briggs, has cut himself during the attack, and left a small blood trail which Brick could follow with his super vision.

He followed the trail on the docks until it eventually ran out. It stopped to what appeared to be tyre tracks, and again, the red ruff used his vision to follow the tyre tracks which he presumed the hitman to have escaped in. The tracks weren't visible to the normal human eye, so Brick relied on his powers. He stayed a fair distance up in the air though to avoid people seeing him. The tracks lead into a neighbourhood which, although wasn't the best, it wasn't the worst of neighbourhoods either. They lead to a house near the end of a street.

'Strange. You'd think if they knew the identity of the hitman they could trace his address. Unless..' Brick flew down to the house quite quickly and through a window, worried that the hitman was using this place as a hideout. There were children's toys around. 'Oh no.'

The Rowdyruff looked around going through the living room and into the kitchen, then he heard a scream behind him. He turned around to see a woman standing in the doorway with a terrified expression on her face. Brick then spotted a badge on the counter, a police badge. A man came running into the room as well, and saw what his wife was looking at. Brick noticed he had a bandage around his hand. The realisation hit Brick. This was a cop's house.

It was a cop's blood he had been following, and his squad car no doubt, as he could see now the police car parked in the garage with his x-ray vision. "What, what are you doing in my house? You're a Rowdyruff" the cop exclaimed.

"I, I'm sorry I, was looking for a criminal, Joe Briggs, how did you cut yourself?" Brick wondered.

"Briggs? Why? I was at that crime scene with my colleagues investigating. And I cut myself on handling evidence before I drove home. Honey get the phone" the officer told his wife before reaching for a gun in a drawer.

"Wait I just wanted the award money for catching him-, ahh" Brick groaned and zoomed outside before the off duty officer could fire at him. The Rowdyruff zipped out of there and out of that neighbourhood, and into the downtown busier part of the city. He floated down the alleyways inbetween the buildings, cursing himself.

'Stupid stupid stupid!' he grimaced. It was a foolish idea from the start. He knew he wouldn't catch the hitman. What a short lived dream that was. If he were able to identify who's blood that was, he would've known. And now look what has he done. Invaded a home of an officer and his wife. He didn't do anything, but with their reputations already, despite rescuing a few people at the mall, it's not going to look good for them. Especially when he talked about the hitman. He didn't just make it worse for him, he made it worse for his brothers too, and that's why he hated himself right now.

'Could it get any worse?' Brick thought, just before raindrops started to fall, and eventually turned into heavy rain. 'Oh how cliche.' He floated down the alleyway, the rain starting to soak him. Although this was the least of his worries. In this faux attempt to catch a criminal, he didn't have any time to look for food or any type of money lying on the street. Boomer and Butch were back at the warehouse right now, waiting for Brick to return with something. His stomach growled, and he just ignored the rain beating down on him.

He also seemed to forget where he was, as he came out of the alleyway and onto a street, sitting down against a wall next to the entrance of the alleyway, and just stared down at the floor, becoming more soaked. There wasn't any people on the street, as it was raining, except from a small line of people at a bus stop just to the left of the Rowdyruff. At the end of the line at the bus stop, a woman stood there holding an umbrella and wearing a long brown coat. And she heard something to her right, like the sound of someone slumping down against a wall. She looked around and her eyes widened a bit when she saw a small boy sitting against the wall in soaking rain. She guessed he had just come out of that alleyway.

But there was something different about this boy. He had no fingers, or ears, no nose. And those eyes, she had seen that somewhere before. She looked around quickly to see that the other people at the bus stop hadn't noticed him, and set her eyes upon the boy again before walking over to him. Brick just kept staring down at the floor when he saw someone kneel in front of him. He looked up to see a woman with a concerned but mostly kind look on her face, and she held the umbrella over both of them.

She was wearing a brown rain coat. The woman had curly orange hair, similar to Ms Bellum's, except she didn't have _that_ much hair. She was wearing skinny jeans and high heels. She looked quite young too. "Hello" she greeted him. "What are doing here in the rain?" she asked softly.

"Just, looking around, for something to eat I suppose." Brick didn't see any point in lying.

"Why? Don't you have anything to eat? And in the rain?" the woman wondered.

Brick didn't know why she wasn't trying to get away from him or warn the other people at the bus stop. Everyone still saw them as criminals.

"And forgive me for saying but, you're eyes, you're a chemical x user aren't you? That's who you are, you're one of those Rowdyruffs. What am I saying? Of course you are, you're on the news and everything, well done at the mall yesterday" the woman complimented.

"Yeah, well, that was just a one off thing. We're trying to stay out of the whole crime thing now" Brick admitted.

"Where do you live? If you don't mind me asking?" she persisted with questions.

"I'd, rather not say" Brick looked away.

"I understand" said the woman before fiddling with something in her umbrella and then handing it to Brick. "Here, take this for the rain."

Brick raised an eyebrow, why would she give this to him? And also, it was common for people in Townsville to know what chemical x was thanks to the girls, but here in Founders city, it probably wouldn't have been that well known. How does she know about it? He accepted the umbrella and murmured a small "Thanks." He then said "What about you?"

"It's okay, my bus seems to be here now." She motioned to the bus just pulling up. "I have to go. Pleasure talking to you." She patted him on the head and stood up. She wasn't that tall, even in high heels. Just slightly taller than Ms Keane.

Brick was still confused however. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh just call me Wendy." She looked to see people getting on the bus. "Brick, isn't it? Leader of the Rowdyruffs. Stay safe" she smiled and walked towards the bus. The windows were too fogged up for the passengers to see the Rowdyruff. He watched the bus drive off and looked up into the umbrella. And there in the middle part, was a twenty dollar bill wrapped around it. Brick almost felt bad at the thought of accepting that. But he couldn't afford to feel bad. He took off still holding the umbrella, and tried to find a convenient store that would serve him.

It was now late evening, and back in Townsville, the Powerpuff girls were getting ready for bedtime, after an afternoon of 'saving the world' although it was just fighting crime in Townsville. Bubbles was thinking over her plan again. She would sneak out when her sisters and the Professor were fast asleep, and fly over to Founders city to check on the Rowdyruff boys. There was the possibility of Blossom or Buttercup waking up in the middle of the night for a glass of water or something, and seeing that she wasn't there. So she would make a 'dummy' Bubbles, out of a soccer ball and a blonde wig she found in the attic earlier, which she shaped into her hair style.

Speaking of her sisters, Buttercup was not happy with her blue sister, as today in school there was a foodfight, which to no surprise Buttercup was involved in. Bubbles had abandoned Buttercup during the fight to get Octi out of there, who Bubbles had brought to school for show and tell, leaving Buttercup to get humiliated in that fight.

"You're not still angry are you?" Blossom asked the green puff.

"I had seven other kids on me! They completely bested me in that foodfight!"

"Well to be fair, you do have superpowers" Bubbles reminded.

"That doesn't excuse why you left me hanging today Bubbles. All because of some dumb toy."

"Don't pay attention to her Octi, she's just jealous that I have you and she had to give up her blanket."

"And that's another thing, why _did_ I have to give up my blanket, when you get to keep that stupid toy fish!"

"Mollusk" Blossom corrected.

"Oh will you shut up! I don't want you acting all morally superior again" Buttercup shot back at the puff leader.

"I don't act morally superior, I just try to do what is best for everyone, even if that means getting involved and doing something" Blossom said back, slightly frustrated. "And I think it's time you grew up, instead of getting into childish food fights."

"You wanna talk about growing up? Then why are you letting her keep that stupid thing?" Buttercup flew down next to Bubbles and pointed at Octi.

"I know that you're a lot stronger Buttercup, and you were ready to give up your blanket. I know what's best" Blossom proclaimed.

"Oh sorry mom" Buttercup mocked. "But I don't think she should keep this" she grabbed Octi.

"Hey give him back!" Bubbles grabbed her stuffed toy whilst Buttercup still held onto it.

"Why don't you just give him up for one night?" Buttercup tugged on it.

"Girls please!" Blossom tried to say as the two girls pulled Octi. And unfortunately, being just a stuffed toy and being pulled by two superpowered kids, it wasn't long before Octi ripped in half, some of his stuffing fell on the floor. Bubbles gasped and fell to her knees, staring at the ripped Octi.

"Now you've done it" said Blossom.

"Oh great, look Bubbs, before you start the waterworks-" Buttercup attempted to say before the blonde puff burst out into tears. The Professor had heard all the noise in the girls bedroom.

"What's going on in here? Oh no what happened?" he saw the ripped Octi on the floor.

"Buttercup and Bubbles were pulling on it, and it ripped" Blossom explained.

"She tried to take it from me" Bubbles pointed at Buttercup whilst still crying.

"Buttercup." The Professor looked at her sternly.

"Well I, she shouldn't be with that toy anyway! She should have given it up by now!" Buttercup protested.

"She will eventually when she's older. First the foodfight today and now this, that's another week you're grounded for. Now apologise to your sister."

Buttercup sighed. "I'm sorry Bubbles."

"It's time for bed now girls." The Professor knelt down to Bubbles. "I'm sorry Bubbles, I'll sow him back up tomorrow for when you get home from school, okay."

Bubbles sniffed. "Okay."

All three girls got into bed, and the Professor placed the two halfs of Octi on top of the dresser. "Now try to get some sleep okay? Goodnight girls."

"Goodnight." The light was switched off.

Although saddened, Bubbles didn't forget her plan. With teary eyes she waited until her sisters were fast asleep, and then quietly floated out of bed, changing out of her nightdress and into her usual blue attire. She placed her 'dummy Bubbles' in the bed, and flew down to the kitchen, grabbing a few things for the boys to eat, remembering their current situation. Back in the bedroom she opened a window to fly out, but before she did, the two pieces of Octi accidently fell into the bag she was carrying the food in. Bubbles began her journey towards Founders, still shedding a few tears over Octi.

Boomer was on the roof of the warehouse they were currently living in, as the boys hadn't gone to sleep yet, and he was currently playing with a ball they had found earlier. Butch was in a mood as Brick told them Bubbles would probably visit them again at some point, he just didn't know when. And it wasn't long before Boomer spotted a light blue streak heading towards the warehouse. Indeed the Powerpuff had come back to see them. And he didn't really mind that, mainly because he saw a friendly likeable side to his counterpart. It only took not fighting her to see that.

Bubbles landed on the roof when she saw Boomer. "Hey Bubbles. Brick did say you would be back, didn't expect it to be this early."

"Yeah, I figured I'd visit you guys nightly, if that's alright?" Bubbles said half heartedly.

"I guess so. It's up to Brick really, though I'm sure he wouldn't mind. What's in the bag?"

"Oh just some bits of food for you boys." Her tone wasn't as cheerful as usual, which the blue ruff noticed.

"And the octopus?" he pointed.

"Wha-, Oh! How did he get in there?" Bubbles realised, Octi must've fallen into her bag. The two bits of him anyway.

"What is it?" asked Boomer.

"It's my, stuffed toy" Bubbles said in a quiet tone, as if she were embarrassed to say it.

"What happened to him?" Boomer floated over. Bubbles expected him to laugh or something, but his tone of voice had traces of, sympathy.

"Well, I was fighting with Buttercup. And she started yelling that I was too old for this thing." The puff floated down and sat on the edge of the building. Boomer sat down next to her. "She started pulling on Octi, that's his name, and I pulled back, and it caused Octi to rip in half" she sniffed and a few more tears rolled down her cheeks as she held the two halves of Octi. "He's my favourite toy."

"No wonder you seem so upset." Boomer for some strange reason didn't like seeing her like this. Perhaps it was because it reminded him of when he lost Henry, his mouse. Although that was a living thing and this was a toy, but the parallels were there. Also Bubbles had been kind to them the past few days and hadn't tried to fight them or anything. The ruff looked around on the roof as he got an idea. "Wait here" he told Bubbles as he searched around and managed to find a small needle, and a bit of string which was luckily the same colour as Octi. He flew down next to her again and took the ripped toy from her. "Hand me the stuffing please."

Bubbles didn't know what he was doing, but watched him as he placed all the loose stuffing back inside, and then began to sow the two halves together. Her eyes widened a bit and the tears stopped falling. Boomer seemed so delicate and so careful with this, like he was sowing it with his eyes closed.

"Boomer, how, how are you-?"

"Ah they made us sow mailbags all the time back in that prison" Boomer smiled.

He bit the piece of string off once he was done, and handed the toy back to Bubbles. She gasped as she looked over her stuffed toy, it was completely whole again. You couldn't even see the line of stitching, it blended in completely. "Octi! You're whole again you're whole again!" she hugged it. "Boomer you fixed him completely!" she looked at him, her eyes half closed.

"Not bad for someone with no fingers or thumbs huh?" The ruff was then pretty much smothered by a hug from his counterpart.

 **I'm really really sorry guys that it's been so long since I last updated this fanfic. It's just that I wanted to work on a Christmas story of mine, but now that the Christmas period is over, I'll be working on this again. And I promise it won't take as long to update again.**

 **So anyway, like I said, you saw that Wendy character as I promised you would. (Side note, the best way I can describe her hair is like Melissa's from Milo Murphy's law. That's how I imagined her.) We got to see some of Brick's surprising detective skills, sort of, too.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	10. Thinking things over

"You sure we should keep this umbrella?" Brick asked.

"Eh, it makes for a good house decoration" shrugged Butch.

The blue counterparts then entered the warehouse talking with each other. "You didn't need to, Brick told us he found some money on the street earlier, a twenty dollar bill, which he used to buy us some food today. Don't know where he got the umbrella from though, oh well, hey guys" Boomer waved to his brothers. "She did show up after all."

"Hello Bubbles" Brick greeted in a formal tone.

"Yeah hey" Butch muttered.

"I brought you guys some things" Bubbles emptied the bag revealing the food supplies.

"Why would you bring us this?" Butch raised an eyebrow.

"Who cares? The point is we got these things" expressed Boomer.

"That toy octopus isn't for us too is it?" Brick said somewhat jokingly.

"Huh? Oh, no. This is my, stuffed animal" Bubbles realised she was still holding it in her arms, becoming slightly embarrassed again.

"You have a stuffed toy?" Butch smirked.

"Butch" Brick sternly said.

"It fell in my bag just before leaving I guess. But Boomer fixed it for me, as it tore in half in a fight I had with Buttercup just before I left" Bubbles explained.

The red and green ruff looked at their brother briefly before turning back to Bubbles. "Speaking of which" Brick wondered "how are you allowed to be here? I doubt that father of yours, Professor Utonium or whatever, is letting you go out this late at night."

"Well that's the thing" the blonde puff laughed nervously. "He isn't. I snuck out when everyone else was asleep. They're going to get suspicious if I keep heading out like this during the day."

"So you still haven't told them about us?" Boomer realised.

"Not a soul" promised Bubbles. "I hope to do this every night when I can, since sometimes my sisters and I go out on patrol in Townsville late, if that's okay of course?"

"Eh, I see no harm" Brick shrugged, and Butch just shook his head rolling his eyes.

The four chemical x users sat around the fire the boys had made in the middle of the warehouse. "Is this all you have for warmth at night?" Bubbles continued with questions.

"That and those newspaper blankets" Boomer answered.

"Couldn't you boys, I dunno, go to an orphanage or something?" she wondered, and Butch just laughed at the idea.

"They'll refuse entry to us Bubbles" Brick explained.

"I know that they have to be cautious and everything, but they can't surely deny the fact that you three are suffering from homelessness too. Even if you are the uh, Rowdyruff boys. Boomer told me what happened to you all about the wallet he tried to return and everything, you've suffered from street violence too" replied Bubbles.

"People know we do, but they don't care" Butch dismissed looking down at the floor. "Violence seems acceptable when it's us it's happening too."

"I see" Bubbles decided not to press that any further. "So, what do you boys do for fun now? Since you're not, robbing stores or anything like that anymore" she joked.

"Well we play cards sometimes, or ball games with a soccer ball we bought" told Boomer.

"Hm, soccer isn't usually my thing, but I'll give it a try if you want?" Bubbles supposed.

"Nah soccer's a dumb game, I'm just gonna head outside if you don't mind" Butch said in a bored tone and flew up.

"Where you goin'?" questioned Boomer.

"For a cigarette break-, I'm just going outside for some air" Butch dismissed flying.

Brick observed him for a bit before turning back to the blue counterparts. "Boomer why don't you draw on the walls with Bubbles for a while, here" he threw him some charcoal before floating up. "Just like you use to on the prison walls."

Boomer looked at Brick confused before turning to Bubbles. "What do ya wanna draw?"

"You like to-? can we draw a bunny?" Bubbles asked excitedly.

Brick flew out onto the roof of the warehouse and joined his green brother. "Still haven't warmed up to her huh?"

"I don't know why you and blonde have. You do remember she's part of the same group that fought us and at one point killed us" the green ruff reminded.

"To be fair we kinda did the same thing" said Brick.

"Why are even letting her visit us? Why are you letting the former enemy, whose sisters would jump at the chance to have us thrown us back in that prison, come in and out of our warehouse like some sort of hotel guest?"

"Didn't you show her some martial arts moves the other day?"

"That doesn't mean I enjoyed it. Brick, it honestly feels like she's just some law official come to check on us to make sure we're 'behaving'."

"Butch, _I'm_ the one who's making sure we don't get into trouble again. Think about it. What if we didn't let her visit us? Bubbles would get suspicious about three former criminals hanging around in another city, she wouldn't just let it be. She would get worried and would be bound to tell someone. Before we know it we would be dealing with pink green and a whole bunch of vigilante mobs. So I figured if she came by every now and then and saw that we're not in the whole crime business anymore, we wouldn't have to deal with all of that" Brick gave his explanation.

Butch refused to look at him, still keeping his sulky demeanour, but he seemed to have accepted the explanation. "Where did you get that umbrella from by the way?" he asked changing the subject. "It seemed to good in a condition for you to have just found it on the street."

"Then it must've been recently thrown away when I found it" dismissed Brick.

Then with his super hearing, Brick heard something which normally would've sounded distant, but he could hear just fine. He heard gunshots, a rapid fire of gunshots, and a voice he swore he heard before. "Do you hear that?"

"Just gunshots, we hear them a lot Brick, especially in this neighbourhood" shrugged Butch.

Brick, with his x ray vision saw through the buildings a shootout between two officers who were waiting for back up, against three people up in an apartment building. He zoomed his sight in, and recognised one of the officers to be the same one whose house he had accidently entered earlier. He thought of something and turned to Butch. "Go back inside Butch, it's getting cold out."

"What are you doing?"

"Just, don't repeat what I do, okay?" Brick then flew in the direction of the shooting leaving a red streak behind.

"What the hell is he doing?" Butch questioned watching his brother shoot off.

Brick could hear the gunfire decrease slightly and that same officer call desperately on his radio. "This is officer Jones, I have an officer down, my partner, gunshot to the leg, we need that back up now-"

"Officer Jones, is it?" Brick floated above the car the two policemen were hiding behind.

"You! What are you doing here?" Jones pointed his gun at Brick, seeming quite scared.

"Is that a, Rowdyruff?" the injured officer looked up, holding his leg.

"Just to prove to you, I wasn't there in your house to harm you." The Rowdyruff flew into the apartment building, the assailants confused at him being there, their gunfire not penetrating his skin at all. Brick dodged the bullets anyway with his speed, zapped the guns out of their hands with his heat vision and knocked out two men and one woman. Grabbing them all he floated outside and dropped them in front of the squad cars.

Jones stood up, staring at the unconscious assailants and looked at Brick. "Why-?"

"Like I said, my brothers and I, aren't going to hurt anyone, especially any cop, not anymore."

The back up just then arrived, and the red ruff pointed to the wounded officer. "Tell him to keep pressure on that until medical help arrives." He zoomed off back in the direction of the warehouse, and the other cops ran out of their cars to the other two and the assailants. Among them was Founder's police chief Mccoy, a man who appeared to be in his early 50s and whose uniform was different to the rest of the officers.

"Officer Jones, what happened? Was that a Rowdyruff boy?" the chief stared in the direction the ruff flew in.

"I-, I'm not sure what happened sir. We were caught in the shooting then all of a sudden that boy appeared, the same one who was in my house earlier, and he apprehended these three" Jones explained.

Chief Mccoy kept staring for a few seconds before turning back to the other officers. "Get a medic over here quickly" he ordered for the injured officer.

As Brick flew back, he was thinking over his decision to help the officer. He did to correct his mistake earlier, that's all. He made it clear himself, he and his brothers would not get involved in anything like this, at least not by choice anyway. But as the ruff leader thought more about it, he was starting to realise something. Something similar to what he felt when he saved that man who was going to testify against the those criminals. That officer, officer Jones, he had family, his wife. If Brick hadn't intervened in that shooting just now, she could've lost family. To criminals. The Rowdyruff had a similar experience.

Not just Jones and his wife, but those people in the mall. The people standing outside, dreading the thought their loved ones wouldn't make it. Brick tried to prevent the memory of staring at his unconscious, blood soaked, battered brothers in the prison medical ward out of his head. He wondered briefly whether they would make it too when that happened.

"So that was a gallant act of heroism wouldn't you say?" Butch said sarcastically, appearing alongside Brick.

"You decided to watch then?" Brick replied in an unamused tone.

"You didn't see me."

"No, I heard you. We make a distinctive sound when we fly y'know."

"Yes, and I followed _your_ orders, and didn't intervene" Butch scorned.

"Look, I know I may seem like a hypocrite right now, but the only reason I did that was because, well because, I accidently flew into that officer's house earlier" Brick hesitantly admitted.

"I was wondering what you meant by that. How d'ya do that?" wondered Butch.

"I was, I thought I was on the trail of a hitman, but I got it wrong and ended up that officer's house, believing the hitman to be hiding there. So I wouldn't to prove to him I wasn't there to harm him" Brick confessed.

"So this is not the first time you went back on your own orders?" Butch exclaimed.

"Only because there was a five thousand dollar reward money on him" Brick defended.

"You-, five thousand? Well I don't blame you there. But why should Boomer and I follow your orders, when you don't even do that?" Butch questioned.

"Because Butch I'm starting to think, maybe I don't always know what's best. For us anyway. I mean heck, I hardly ever was before. I'm the reason we ended up in that prison, by making us attack those police officers in Townsville all that while ago. Come to think of it, isn't it ironic that we were subjected to beatings in prison, after being sentenced for assault?" Brick figured.

"I suppose" Butch looked down. "I still hate the fact that the guards and the warden thought the beatings against us were acceptable because we had powers, but if we had hit back once, we'd get in trouble."

"So are you going to disobey me and commit a crime?" Brick, not with an angry tone but with a curious one, asked.

Butch sighed "No, I'm not. I don't want to go back to that hellhole as much as you don't want to. I was only tempted to commit a crime again because I thought it was inevitable. But I'm telling you now Brick, if the other two puffs find out about us, that's it for us. Thank god Bubbles is naive."

The two brothers floated alongside each other for a bit. Butch then quietly said "I'll play a ball game. With you, Boomer and Bubbles, if you want."

Brick's felt his mood become a little brighter. "Let's go ask them."

The blue ruff and puff had by now, each drawn their own choice of animal on the wall, using up several pieces of charcoal. "I hope you don't mind these drawings on your walls Boomer" worried Bubbles after finishing her bunny.

"Pfft, in this building? It's begging for something like this. By the way is my shark's nose too big?" Boomer scratched his head.

Bubbles giggled. Once you really got to know Boomer, he was actually quite fun to be around. She only fought him before, but now she was getting to know a sweet, naive, somewhat innocent side to him. And he could be quite funny too. Heck he fixed Octi for her, just because she looked upset. She wondered what he would've turned out to be like if raised by a different parent. Come to think of it, she wondered what would've happened if the boys weren't born to Mojo Jojo. It wasn't their choice to turn out the way they did, for the first part anyway. It was hard to believe that the Boomer she was talking to now was the same boy who committed crimes all those months ago.

At this point Brick and Butch had returned to the warehouse. "You guys took a long time" pointed out Boomer.

"We, just had a talk is all" Brick responded. "So, what ball game should we play?"

"Ooh ooh, could we play piggy in the middle?" Bubbles asked waving her hand up.

The boys looked at her with blank faces, even Brick. "What? Don't you know what-" Bubbles realised "You don't know do you? Well I'll teach you" she flew down and grabbed the ball. "Normally you play with three people, but we can work with four."

The boys looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders, and listened to Bubbles. After the game, which the three boys, even Butch, seemed to really enjoy, Bubbles had to head home. She picked her empty bag up, along with Octi, and waved goodbye to the boys. "Bye boys, see you again tomorrow night. And thanks again for Octi Boomer" she waved, and flew off in the direction of Townsville.

The three waved back and Brick turned to his brothers. "C'mon we'd better get to bed." The three Rowdyruffs settled down in their cardboard beds, ready for another attempt to stay warm through the night.

Brick awoke grudgingly the next morning to the sound of knocking at the warehouse door to the alleyway to the side of the building. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. 'Ugh, better see who's at the, door?' He floated up and used his x-ray vision on the door. 'No it, it couldn't be' he flew to the door and zapped off the padlock, opening it to see that same woman from the bus stop yesterday.

"Um, hello Brick. Not disturbing you am I?"

 **Hey guys, another chapter. I feel like not that much happened this chapter, but we got to see a bit of development in Brick. And a bit of Butch too. More will most likely happen next chapter. Updates coming as soon as possible.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	11. Running tests

Brick stared for a second at the woman confused. "You're the one from yesterday. How on earth did you find where I was staying?"

"Well I apologise for doing so, but I had to improvise" the woman reached around to the bottom part of the bill of Brick's hat, and picked off something, showing it to him.

Brick took it and examined it. It was a tiny piece of metal. "A tracking device?" Brick realised. She must've placed it on his hat when she patted him on the head, just before leaving. How did that get past him? "Wendy, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Why are you here?" he asked, skeptical of her motives.

"Sorry once again for intruding, but to be honest Brick, the reason I'm here is simply because, well I'm, curious about you and your brothers, but most of all, concerned" admitted Wendy.

"Curious?" Brick repeated. He looked at her. She was still wearing skinny jeans and high heels. And she wasn't wearing the raincoat like yesterday. Instead she was wearing some sort of lab coat, over a green and white horizontally striped top. He guessed that she was in some sort of science and technology profession. How else would she be able to have technology like this tracking device.

Just at this moment Boomer and Butch woke up, rubbing their temples and yawning. "Well that was a milder night at least" Butch muttered rubbing his eyes.

Boomer stretched a bit then looked over to see his red brother talking to a woman, who was wearing a lab coat at the warehouse side door. "Uhh, Butch" Boomer said to the green ruff, motioning over to where Brick was.

"Brick? What's going on?" Butch floated over to the ruff leader. "Who's this?"

"You two must be Butch and Boomer, right?" Wendy gave a small wave to them.

"How did she find us?" Butch looked at Brick.

"Tracking device" Brick showed to him, not looking his brother in the eye.

"How the hell did she manage to plant that on you?" Butch questioned.

"I, sort of talked to her yesterday."

"What? Were you meeting up with people behind our backs?" Butch accused.

"No, she found me on the street when I was investigating that hitman and accidently entered that officer's house."

"Is that what you were doing out on the street that day?" Wendy asked in a sympathetic voice.

"I'm guessing that's where you also got the umbrella from?" Butch figured.

"Well I'm sure you made it up to officer Jones by saving him in that shooting last night" Wendy assured.

"I suppose I-, wait I never said it was officer _Jones_ " Brick pointed out.

"My father, chief Mccoy, told me what happened yesterday" she explained.

"You're the daughter of-, what's his opinion of us? Just out of curiosity" asked Brick.

"Well, the police force, doesn't exactly have the highest of opinion's of you three to be honest Brick. I mean after that, attack on the police force in Townsville eighteen months ago" informed Wendy.

"I admit it wasn't our, proudest moment" Brick admitted.

"Tell me something" Butch interjected. "How did you know that Brick wouldn't attack you? I mean it's not like he would've, but why would you just go up to a Rowdyruff on the street like that?"

"I understand what you're getting at Butch, but Brick didn't exactly look like he was in a position to attack anyone. He was practically drenched because of the rain and was slumped against the wall" Wendy described.

"Wow that sounds pretty pathetic" Butch muttered to his brother.

"You weren't there" Brick muttered back.

"And I know that you boys have a checkered past, which I certainly don't approve of, but judging by what happened at the mall, and Boomer saving that baby from a burning apartment building, plus Brick directly telling me quite sincerely that you were 'trying to stay out of the whole crime thing', it seems the three of you are trying to turn a new leaf. Rowdyruffs or not, you boys are humans too" Wendy finished.

"So, what are you doing here?" Boomer, who had been watching the whole exchange, floated over.

"Well like I said Boomer, I'm worried about you boys. I mean, if this is what you have to do everyday, scraping the bottom of the barrel for food. And I'm, well, slightly curious of the chemical x that resides within you."

"How do you know about that exactly? I didn't think that chemical to be very well known outside of Townsville" Brick wondered. "I mean, I take it by that lab coat you're wearing, you're in some sort of science profession, but that doesn't necessarily mean you would know about it."

"It isn't very well known here no, which is strange since it was created here" she expressed.

"Here? But I thought that, Professor Utonium created it?" said Boomer.

"He didn't. Let's just say, I know the person who created it, and we handed a supply of it to the Professor" Wendy explained.

"So you know Professor Utonium too?"

"Oh yes. Mark and I went to school with him back in Townsville actually."

"Who's Mark?" asked Brick.

"Oh um, never mind. Anyway I came here to ask you boys if perhaps, you would like to, let's say, come back to my lab so I could run a few tests on your powers? It's just that, I'd really like to know how the chemical that I assisted in creating works, since I never got to see it in action, not personally anyway. I mean you don't have to, but I don't think surviving by scavenging the streets is anyway for young boys to live. Even super powered ones" Wendy proposed, smiling a kind smile to the three Rowdyruffs.

Brick looked down at the floor for a few seconds, going over what she had just proposed. He wondered something. "What do you mean by that last part? Will you be feeding us or something?"

"I'm more than happy to prepare a meal every evening for you boys if you help me with the tests" replied Wendy, placing her hands together in front of her lap.

Brick cocked his eyebrow, looking up for a second, the way people normally do when they're thinking about something. He then looked back at her. "Excuse us for a second." He turned around to his brothers and lead them back away from the door. "So what do you two think about this?" he whispered.

"Brick we don't even know this woman. Just because she was kind to you yesterday and is promising us a meal every night, doesn't mean we should be completely trustful" Butch whispered.

"But Butch, she's obviously some sort of scientist. She just wants to examine our chemical x powers" Boomer, also in a whisper, countered.

"Yeah, says who?" Butch warned. "She could be anybody."

"You have a point" Brick put a hand to his chin.

"But we have powers Butch. I was in an explosion a while ago at the mall and came out with only cuts and bruises" reminded Boomer.

"Yes I know, but to this woman's credit, she probably is actually telling the truth about co-creating chemical x, I don't think she would lie about something like that, and that's what worries me" Butch expressed. "Even with powers, could we still be walking into some sort of trap?"

"I admit though, she wasn't exactly looking for me or anything when she did find me" figured Brick. "And she did seem genuinely concerned for my well being when she talked to me." Brick remembered her asking if he had anything to eat, and what he was doing out in the rain. And the tone she had, it had the same type of concern a bystander would have for a lost child. The last thing the ruff leader wanted to do was to put his brothers in any type of danger, but the thought of free meals for them was just too good, and desperately needed. If this was all a ruse, then Brick would have to think of something quickly to get his brothers away.

"We'll go with her. I don't think someone could conjugate a plan to capture us in a matter of twenty four hours anyway. But if it is a plan against us, we'll get out of there as quickly as possible" Brick concluded.

Boomer smiled, liking this idea. This Wendy person was the first one outside of Bubbles to show them some kindness. Excluding a few animals he talked to of course. Butch was still skeptical, but he just sighed and shook his head, maintaining his loyalty to his leader. "Alright, we'll go with her." After the events last night, Butch was still questionable of Brick's decisions, especially after the red ruff himself had said that he was even unsure whether he knew what was best for them.

"Butch, I know what I said last night" Brick said, almost as if he read his brother's mind. "But I'm only doing this because I'd rather take a chance than continue in the same terrible position we're in now" he put a hand on Butch's shoulder. Butch nodded, and the three brothers floated back over to the door.

"Have you boys reached a verdict then?" joked Wendy, chuckling.

"We'll go with you Wendy, to help you with your, investigation, on chemical x and our powers" Brick informed her. "We discussed it and it's fine with all of us."

Butch rolled his eyes.

"I'm glad to hear, I couldn't just let three little boys spend all day in a drafty warehouse now could I?" she motioned for them to follow her. The boys looked to see a car parked quite close to the door, which the scientist woman beeped open and opened the door for them. "Well aren't you boys coming?"

"You're, giving us a lift? I thought we we're going to fly there?" Boomer tilted his head.

Wendy chuckled. "Well _I_ certainly can't do that. I don't have chemical x powers remember."

"I think what Boomer means is, do you really want to be seen with, well, us? I mean no offence Wendy, but associating with the Rowdyruffs, well it won't-"

"We were on a street the other day, and Boomer tried to return a wallet or something, all the crowd did was throw whatever they could pick up at us, chasing us out of there" Butch interrupted, scowling at the memory.

"The way I see it Butch, is that if people see someone with the 'dreaded Rowdyruff boys' whom are not hurting that person, then that's bound to make them think isn't it?" Wendy figured.

Boomer bumped his hand against Butch's arm and said "Cmon Butch, when's the last time we got to ride in a car that didn't belong to the city." He flew into the back of it, strapping himself in.

They had to admit, it was weird sitting in the back seat of a car instead of flying. It turns out the boys weren't tall enough for people to see them through the windows, apart from maybe a few people in other cars who pulled up next to them at red lights, who at first thought their eyes were deceiving them. All three of the boys found themselves subconsciously looking at their hands every couple of minutes expecting to see handcuffs on them, but every time were reminded that those days were over.

"Why did you park your car so close?" Brick broke finally spoke up, though he already had an idea of the answer.

"Well, when I tracked you to that warehouse, I then realised that it wasn't exactly in the nicest part of town, and I didn't want to park my car out in the open" Wendy explained.

"Even in daylight?" asked Boomer.

The scientist sighed "That's, how bad it is I'm afraid. You were there at that shooting last night Brick. I imagine living in that area of the city, you don't have the quietest of nights." She said this with a tone as if this problem had been going on for a while, and had a look in her eyes as she briefly looked up at the buildings, as if she were ashamed of the city almost.

Brick took this opportunity to ask something he had thought about the previous night. "I heard that it isn't just that part of the city that has a problem with crime. In fact we've experienced it, with the incident at the mall and everything. Quite a lot of people get hurt, don't they?"

"They do, unfortunately. My father's got a hell of a job sorting out all this mess. I worry about him sometimes, and his safety. The amount of shootings he's been in, and stand offs. I don't know who loses more sleep at night, him or my mother" Wendy expressed, braking slightly to turn at a junction.

"Yeah" Brick replied in a quiet voice. "I know the feeling."

"You mean, there's been more shootings other than the one last night?" Butch wondered, as he too seemed curious.

"Shootings, robberies, riots, destruction of property, murders, drug smuggling, you name it. My father and the Founders police force are on the case of a series of murders as of recent, believed to be connected to the mob. I don't know if it'll do any good though" sighed Wendy. "Folla and the rest of the mob haven't been convicted for anything in years."

"Who's Folla?" asked Boomer.

"Sofia Folla. The Don. She inherited her father's criminal operations after he was shot by a rival gang. A gang of which, Sofia Folla had massacred last Valentine's day."

Brick thought of the hitman he tried to capture. He wondered, just for a second. Would Joe Briggs, if he had been one of the inmates during the boys time in the prison, would he have been the type who would've terrorised them? But before Brick and his brothers knew it, they looked up to see that they had pulled up into a driveway.

"Here we are" Wendy announced, turning off her car's engine and stepping out.

The ruffs looked around at their surroundings with confused expressions. "Here? This house?" Butch asked skeptically. It looked like a normal suburban house, in quite a pleasant looking suburban neighbourhood, far from the centre of the city, as the boys noticed when they got out of the car.

"I thought you said we were going to a lab?" Boomer curiously asked.

"We are, it's in here" informed Wendy, taking out some keys from her handbag.

"In the house?" wondered Butch.

"Well I suppose it's not too strange. Remember Professor Utonium has one below his" reminded Boomer.

Wendy gestured for the boys to follow her in, and Brick did a quick x-ray scan of the house just in case this was all a ruse, and he kept both his brothers behind him. But as far as he could tell this was just a normal looking house, with no signs of devious intent, made more evident as they floated inside. All three of the Rowdyruffs kinda just stopped and looked around. It was so much, warmer, than in the warehouse. Had they ever been in an actual house without breaking into it before? Brick remembered the last living room he'd been in was officer Jones's by accident.

"So" Wendy got their attention. "Have you boys had any breakfast yet?"

After Breakfast, which the boys were grateful for, the four of them walked, or floated, down to some type of basement. Flicking a light switch, the room lit up to reveal a white walled, technology filled room, with a few smaller rooms connected to it. The tables were covered with beakers, test tubes, computers, and colourful buttons. This was definitely the image the boys had when they pictured a laboratory. It probably still lingered in their mind from when Boomer was captured and held in Professor Utonium's lab. And in truth, this lab was a lot bigger than Professor Utonium's.

"Woah, this must go under from your front garden to your back one" Butch floated around the lab, as if he were inspecting it. "How'd you get the money for all this?"

"I, sell and work on pieces of technology for the city's government. As you can see, they pay me quite handsomely." Wendy made her way to a control panel, which activated some sort of small room next to them with a screen to see inside. "I would like to start by examining the laser vision you boys have if that's okay?"

"Uh sure, what do you want us to do?" Brick asked, now beginning to trust this woman more.

Wendy placed three thick sheets of metal at the end of the testing room and requested the boys to simply shoot their laser vision at the metal, and timed how long it took for them to do so. "Six point three seconds. But that was titanium alloy."

"Probably why it took so long to burn through" Brick figured.

Wendy thought for a second before going to a cabinet and took a vial of black liquid, which the boys recognised as chemical x, from a holder. The three Rowdyruffs, who were now floating behind her, watched as she grabbed a piece of that same metal, and poured a drop of chemical x onto the metal. Nothing happened. "Amazing" she whispered.

"What is?" Boomer questioned.

"That the thing that gives us powers, doesn't really have any powers on it's own" Brick observed.

"Right, it has to be channelled into a living thing first. I wonder" Wendy seemed lost in thought for a second.

"What?" Butch asked, snapping her out of it.

"Oh, nothing" she dismissed. "I heard that the metal, Duranium, is something you boys can't break, or that you have no effect on?"

All three of the Rowdyruffs shuddered. "Don't remind us" muttered Butch.

"Why? Something wrong?" Wendy asked, slightly worried.

"We'll, tell you later. Just tell us what you want us to do next" Brick dismissed.

"Well I was hoping to see whether you're laser vision would burn through Duranium, but since I don't have any, I suppose I can't. Anyway, could we test your strength levels next?"

Throughout the day, Wendy tested how much the boys could lift. Unsurprisingly, Butch managed to lift slightly more than his brothers. She tested speed, which was quite difficult to do in the lab, until Brick suggested they fly in circles in the testing room.

Out of the three brothers, Boomer scored the quickest times in his laps he flew. Wendy was becoming more fascinated by the minute, amazed at what the chemical that she had co-created could do. They fired balls of energy from their hands, which Wendy measured how much damaged it could really do at the objects they hit. Meanwhile Brick took an interest in the technology she had lying around.

"All these computers, are they really all for research and programming technology?" the red ruff wondered.

"Some of them. A lot of these computers are used to scan blood samples or DNA for things like research, though I haven't used them in years since I mainly work with technology now" Wendy informed whilst scanning a few pieces of metal.

"But you still work with chemicals" Brick motioned to all the beakers and test tubes.

"I still experiment sometimes with different alkalies, it's a little hobby of mine."

Brick began to contemplate this person who had welcomed them in. She had shown no ill will towards them. Despite being dangerous former criminals, she welcomed them with open arms. She wasn't the slightest bit afraid of them, despite what all the media reports were saying about them, which he had seen occasionally on newspapers and through shop windows. She talked to them like they were her own-,

Just then Boomer zipped out of the testing room. "Woah, now I see why Henry liked running around all over the place!" in his excitement, he accidently knocked a beaker over with some sort of chemical in it, and caused a small explosion, which damage anything, or harm anyone, but gave the two ruffs and the scientist a faceful of smoke and ash.

"Boomer honest to god, we're in a science lab" Brick scorned.

Wendy just started chuckling, with a hand over her mouth. "It's okay Boomer, honestly, but maybe I should put any hazardous chemicals away first before you boys come in" she said, brushing the ash a bit out of her curly orange hair.

It was evening now, and after Wendy Brick and Boomer had cleaned up, they decided to finish with the tests and went back up to the house. "Thank you ever so much you three for that" Wendy clasped her hands together. "Now, to cook you a meal, like I promised."

While the boys waited in the living room as Wendy was in the kitchen, they took the liberty of poking around at their surroundings, as they really hadn't had the luxury of being welcomed guests in a house for a, well, they hadn't had that luxury. "Guys, have you ever felt how soft carpet is?" Boomer asked whilst on the floor, running his hands through it.

"Amazing not watching these things behind something that's protecting it" Butch tapped the TV screen.

Brick had noticed a few opened letters on a coffee table addressed to Wendy. He noticed something, they were addressed to a Wendy Innlost. ' _Innlost_? I thought she was the daughter of chief _Mccoy_.'

The boys were then called to the kitchen where there were four plates of a roast dinner on a table. The boys eyes widened. "I hope this is okay, I'm more of a scientist than a chef" joked Wendy. The three nodded, and the four sat around the table, eating the meal together. "I'm surprised you three are eating this so happily, most little children hate vegetables. Then again, with your current situation,"

"We're just grateful for anything at this point really" said Boomer with a mouthful of broccoli.

Wendy looked down with a pitying expression for a second at that sentence. She then looked up again and asked "So tell me boys, what, was it like for you, inside that prison?"

 **Hey guys, another chapter. I was worried that the boys agreeing to go with Wendy was a bit sudden, but I figured that her running tests on them would be the best way for them to get to know the other. Bubbles is still going to visit them, which is why the boys would want to go back to the warehouse. I decided to change the summary around a bit too, as I thought that sounded better.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	12. Routine

The boys stopped eating for a second, and put their cutlery down. Wendy noticed their expression change, and felt it slightly erie at them doing this at the same time. This made her dread their answer. Brick decided to speak up as the other two stared down at their food. "Well, we were sentenced to eighteen months, and were taken to it offshore," Brick went onto explain all that happened, the other two ruffs shuddering at some points.

He told her about how they weren't allowed to use their powers, how they were put into separate isolation rooms each if they did, or got into any trouble. The rooms of which, were cold, drafty only had one blanket to keep you warm. How some of the inmates took advantage of them not being able to use their powers, and beat them several times. Sometimes the guards didn't do anything about it since they figured if the boys had powers, violence against them was okay, forgetting the fact that the boys weren't allowed to use them. He finally told her about nearly being beaten to death by duranium bars.

Wendy felt her heart break at this story. She understood now why they weren't too fond of experimenting with duranium. She started to feel something inside. Something inside her that upon seeing three small children looking depressed and who had been through all that, just made her get up and hug the three of them. "I'm sorry boys."

The boys didn't actually mind being hugged by this woman they had only just met. Even Butch didn't complain. Wendy let go of them and sat back down. She felt like she had to get across something. "It sounds awful, what happened to you three, but I must stress to you that, the reason you ended up in there was because of what you did, your actions before the sentence. The assault on the police and all those other crimes before that. Though I suppose you've already realised. As you said Brick, you're steering away from crime."

"Yeah we've realised" Brick replied. "That's all behind us."

The scientist looked at the three ruffs with sympathy. This did explain a lot. All those media reports about the boy's crimes and terrorising, and here she was talking to three boys who cooperated with her, who were polite to her, and were not attacking her in the slightest. That sentence really must've changed them.

After the boys had finished their meals, they floated up and Brick decided "Well, we'd better get home now."

"Home? You mean, back to that warehouse?" asked Wendy.

"Well, yeah, that's our 'current residence'" Butch said in a sarcastic tone.

"Thanks for everything miss Wendy" Boomer waved. "Are we seeing you again tomorrow?" he wondered in actually quite a hopeful tone.

"Oh uh, yes of course, we can continue the testing on the chemical x tomorrow. Although I only wanted to see how well the chemical actually worked so there's not much left to test. But boys, are you sure about going back to the warehouse? It's just, well it must be drafty in there and-"

"Trust me Wendy, it's best not to let people know you're associated with us. They'll turn on you" Brick interrupted her.

"Well, could I at least drive you there?" Wendy asked.

"No we'll fly, and we'll meet you here tomorrow. Thanks again" Brick ushered for his brothers to follow him outside, and Boomer gave one final wave before they flew off. Wendy sadly waved back. She wasn't too sure about letting three orphaned children sleep in a drafty warehouse. Still, she had to admit, it was nice to have some company again.

Is was night now, and as the three Rowdyruffs flew back to their 'home', Boomer brought up "It seems like she didn't want us to leave."

"Probably feels bad about letting three small children sleep in a warehouse. But it's best if she's not seen with us. Same reason Bubbles can't be either, it'll ruin her reputation" Brick explained.

"Why do you care about those girls reputations?" Butch questioned.

"I don't, I care about Bubbles's" Brick answered. And even Butch had to admit that Bubbles had been nothing but respectful to them. It would be sad if that happened to her.

"Did anyone notice something though? About Wendy?" Brick asked the other two.

"What?" asked Boomer.

"I noticed a few letters from a car repair company, which I assume why she had to get the bus the other day, but it was addressed to Wendy Innlost. And she said she was the daughter of chief Mccoy" Brick told them.

"And didn't she mention someone called Mark earlier today?" Butch remembered.

As they got closer to their warehouse, they saw a light blue streak approach it too, which of course, turned out to be the blue Powerpuff girl. "Bubbles over here" Boomer called.

The blonde puff turned around and noticed them. "Oh, hi boys. Have you been out?"

"We've, been somewhere" answered Brick.

The boys and Bubbles flew into the warehouse where they started a small fire with their laser vision. "I managed to sneak out again while Blossom Buttercup and the Professor are asleep" Bubbles informed as the four of them sat around the fire.

"Did they wonder about how your toy octopus was fixed?" asked Boomer.

"Yeah they did, so I had to lie and say I stayed up a bit to sow him back together myself, that I couldn't sleep without him. The Professor wasn't too happy about me, quote on quote, staying up late. But he did comment on how well stitched it was" told Bubbles.

"Hm, maybe you should consider sowing as a career choice Booms" Brick chuckled and Boomer just rolled his eyes.

"Why do you call him 'Professor', why don't you call him, dad, or something?" Butch wondered as he was lead down on the floor, sitting up slightly.

Bubbles tilted her head slightly in thought for a moment. "Y'know I'm not actually sure. I called him it once, when he first created us. Boy was that a time. Me and my sisters painted our room together with him, zapped in some windows, drew some pictures," she went on.

The boys became slightly curious listening to Bubbles's story. "Does he, tuck you in every night?" asked Boomer.

"Uh huh" replied Bubbles.

"And, does he pat you on the back, and take care of you when you've been hurt?" wondered Brick. Bubbles nodded.

"And make sure that you've been fed everyday?" even Butch couldn't keep down his own curiosity.

"All those things" Bubbles responded and all three ruffs went quiet. "What is it?" she asked.

"Mojo and HIM never did anything like that with us" Boomer admitted quietly.

Bubbles couldn't help but feel slightly bad at the three of them. She then got an idea to try to cheer them up. "Hey, have you boys been out on the sea?"

"We flew over and watched it during our time in the offshore prison, why?" asked Boomer.

"Could we go out and fly along the waves, and dodge them? C'mon I'll show you" the blonde puff flew out and the boys just shrugged at each other and followed her out, past the docks and out to the sea. Bubbles flew along, just above the surface of the water, putting her hand in the water as she did. "C'mon it's fun! Even more so dodging the waves" she called, dodging a wave as she said that.

It was lucky the boys had super hearing, with the all the noise of the waves crashing against the rocks. Butch and Boomer looked at their leader, who just shrugged and said "Just don't actually get wet or anything. That water's freezing and there'll be no way to dry off."

The three ruffs and blue puff played a game of tag flying above the sea, dodging waves and quite enjoying themselves, until they decided to head back, and Bubbles decided it was time to go home. "Well, see tomorrow night" she waved.

"Yeah, and you don't have to bring us food anymore Bubbles. We've found someone who's feeding us" Brick informed her.

"Really? Who?" she wondered.

"Oh a scientist, who agreed to feed us if we help her with some experiments" explained Brick.

"What kind of experiments?" asked Bubbles.

"She wants to see what the chemical x can do, and don't worry" he interrupted her when she was about to say something. "So far from the way she's acted I can trust her" he assured.

"And you're fine with that?" persisted Bubbles.

"Yes Bubbles, don't you worry. You'd better get home now, we'll see you tomorrow night."

"Well, okay. Bye." The Powerpuff flew off in the direction of Townsville.

From this point, the boys fell into a sort of routine for over the next few days. They would fly over to Wendy's house in the day, where they would help her out with her tests on the chemical x, and she would normally fix them up something in the evening to eat, which every time the boys were grateful for. And at night, Bubbles would visit them for a while, and apart from nights where she and her sisters went out on patrol in Townsville, she spent her nights sneaking out and usually playing a game with the Rowdyruffs. Either a ball game, or a childish game like duck duck goose which she taught them. Or even card games like poker or blackjack which they taught her.

One day while testing out the new power the boys had of firing balls of energy at certain objects to see how much damage it could do, they accidently hit a chemical in a beaker which Wendy forgot about and left out. "Oh no, I forgot to put that away" she realised.

"Why is it dangerous- woah!" Boomer tried to say before the chemical exploded, but as it did, he threw his arms in front of himself on instinct, and a blue light appeared in front of him, which absorbed most of the damage from the blast. The three boys were thrown back but only slightly.

Wendy ran over to them, taking the goggles off her head. "Boys are you alright?" she knelt down.

"Yeah, I think we're fine" Butch groaned rubbing his head.

"Boomer what was that blue light that you emitted?" Brick wondered getting back to his feet. Well he was floating.

"I don't know, I just threw my hands up because of the blast" explained Boomer rubbing his elbow, appearing to have hurt it.

"That blast was pretty powerful, but you boys aren't scathed. That light must've been some sort of shield that you've developed Boomer-" when Wendy looked back down at them, she saw the blue Rowdyruff holding his elbow looking quite upset. Once again something inside her made her want to comfort him. "Try not to touch anything in here okay" she asked Brick and Butch before picking up Boomer. "C'mon Boomer, let's have a look at that."

Wendy took him upstairs and naturally Butch began looking around out of boredom. "Butch you know not to touch anything" Brick reminded.

"I'm not touching anything dangerous, but what else are we supposed to do?" complained the green ruff. "I'm only here for the free food she gives us anyway, and not having to spend all day in a drafty warehouse." He continued to poke around at the equipment Wendy had.

Brick ignored his brother though there was some to what he was saying about there being nothing else to do down here. So the red ruff decided it wouldn't hurt to look around a bit. He was particularly interested in the computers she had down here, especially one big one which he switched on. A password was required. The ruff thought for a second and remembered something earlier. He took a guess and typed: M-A-R-K. It logged on and Brick examined some of the software.

This wasn't a typical computer with typical software, this had a lot of programmes for forensic science and investigation, though it appeared, as Brick noticed by the date it displayed, it hadn't been used in years. It had software for scanning, and finding and collecting information quickly. He played around with it a bit, becoming quite interested.

Upstairs in the kitchen, Boomer was sitting on the kitchen counter with his sleeve rolled up, as he had bruised it. "You don't need to put a band aid on something like this Wendy. I've suffered worse."

"I know" Wendy replied. "But I still feel bad about that. Careless me, leaving things around like that." She placed the band aid on and to Boomer's surprise she kissed it afterwards. "All better now?"

"Uh, yeah" Boomer rolled up his sleeve, slightly confused. "So, were you always a scientist?" he asked trying to start a conversation with her.

"Hm? Oh, not always no" she responded putting the band aids away. "I was actually a lawyer at first. My dad being an officer and all. Cheif now. Thought maybe I could help him a bit, but I never actually did any crime scene cases or forensics or anything like that. What I ended up doing instead was becoming a divorce lawyer for men, helping them get custody of children. Don't get me wrong I was happy to do so. But eventually I left that field to pursue my real interest."

Then Boomer remembered "You said you were the co-creator of chemical x right? So, who was the creator?"

"Oh, the creator? He, he was, something." She drifted off slightly, with a fond smile on her face and eyes half closed. She shook herself out of it and turned back to a confused Boomer. "Anyway, we'd better go back down to the lab haven't we?" she picked the boy back up and walked back down to the lab. Boomer could've easily flown but for some reason, he quite liked the comforting feeling of being carried by Wendy.

Brick heard Wendy coming back down and quickly logged the computer off and switched it off. "Well, now Boomer's all sorted, let's test his ability to make a shield shall we?" Wendy suggested.

Boomer's shield wasn't that back but was powerful enough to repel and deflect a lot of objects, including the orbs of energy that the boys could fire from their hands. It became late again and the four ate together, Wendy of course being reluctant to let the three of them return to that warehouse, but Brick would always say it was for the best that they do.

Bubbles visited them that night as usual. "Hey Boomer, hey Brick" she gave Boomer a small hug to greet him. "I was looking forward to tonight as always." She then turned to Butch. "Um Butch, can I ask you something?"

Butch looked slightly confused. "Me?"

"Yeah um, my sisters and I were fighting Princess again today, she's still envious of us as always, but she has this new mech suit, which made her harder to defeat in hand to hand combat. Although Blossom and Buttercup held their own, I kinda, faltered. So I was wondering if you could teach me more of those martial arts moves like you did the other day?" she wondered.

Butch glanced at his brothers and Boomer urged "Go on Butch, you taught us some of them when we had nothing better to do." Brick just gave an expression that read 'Ah, you might as well.'

"Alright, I'll show you some more moves, just pay attention" Butch agreed.

This routine went on for a few more days, and Wendy had pretty much learnt what the chemical she had co-created could do, and as Brick noticed, she seemed worried. But he figured out by her mannerisms that it was not because of anything to do with chemical x, but because, now there was no reason for him and his brothers to visit her anymore, and this worried him too. One, this would mean that him and his brothers won't be guaranteed a meal everyday. And two, there felt as if, there was something more personal. She had looked after the boys, showed concern when they were hurt in the lab sometimes, gave them tips on how to use the chemical x powers. She had fed them, and even offered them blankets to take home to the warehouse for warmth. There was something inside all four of them, that was dreading this day.

This wasn't the only reason Wendy seemed worried, as she had told the boys earlier that her father, police chief Mccoy, was to lead a police raid on drug storage room down at the docks, which was being used by the mob, whom they hoped to catch in the act. During that same day, Wendy received a phone call, from her worried mother. The three ruffs were in the living room, and couldn't help but listen in. They saw Wendy's expression change, and by what she was saying it didn't seem good. The boys floated to her.

"What is it?" Boomer asked.

Wendy put the phone down quite slowly and without looking at the boys she told them "The drug raid my father went on, against the mob. It backfired, a lot of officers were injured and-" she paused before saying "The mob, they dragged him off. They have my father."

 **Hey guys, sorry if you had to wait a while for this chapter. I was wondering whether this chapter should be about a certain crime that happens and the boys decide to get involved and fight against, or this should develop the relationship more between them, Bubbles and Wendy. I decided it would be best with the latter, and stopping a crime next chapter. The rating may change as well, since there will be darker themes, if it wasn't obvious already, in this story, as I'm basically trying to make the boy's world slightly darker to the girl's. Thanks again.**

 **John Armtrong: Thank you very much.**

 **Ekka189: There is one thing she hasn't told them yet :)**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	13. Saving chief Mccoy

The three Rowdyruffs didn't quite know what to say next. But for some reason they all felt deep down seeds of worry for this person they had never met. Wendy didn't speak either, and was just staring down at the kitchen counter. She definitely seemed frightened at what could happen to her father. Boomer tried to speak first. "Don't worry Wendy, the Founders police force will be sure to get him back" he tried to console her.

"But this is the mob we're talking about" Butch whispered to Boomer so Wendy wouldn't hear.

Brick just observed the scientist, and he remembered back to how he felt. How he felt when his family were so close to dying. "Wendy, are you-" Brick trailed off.

She swallowed. "Yes yes, you're right Boomer, the police force will never let anything bad happen to their chief" she said half heartedly, with worry noticeable in her tone. But both Brick and Butch could tell that even she doubted they would get him back.

Brick paused again before sighing and finally deciding "Wendy, what if, what if I try to find him?"

All three of them looked at Brick when he said this. "You find my father? I don't know Brick, I'm not letting someone else go into a situation like that-"

"Wendy I've been in worse" Brick interrupted. "And bullets, as you should know, won't affect me. They've probably dragged him off somewhere else by now, but if I go to that storage room at the docks, I might be able to track him down" he proclaimed.

"Hang on, why just you? I wanna help find him too" Boomer protested.

"Because I don't want you getting involved with the mob" said Brick sternly.

"Although Brick" Wendy spoke up. "I don't want you getting involved either. Once you make an enemy to the mob, they'll come after your brothers as well."

"Only if they know where they are. They don't know where our warehouse is, and I assume that they don't know where you live Wendy" he replied to her, and although she didn't like it, maybe this was the best way of rescuing her father. She gave in.

"Okay, but you be careful Brick. If you're going to track my father down you might need some help."

"I'm not going to let Boomer and Butch come along-"

"I mean, I have some old technology down in the lab that you could use."

"You mean, that old forensic software you have on your computer?" Brick implied.

"Yes, wait how do you know I have that on there? Actually don't worry, we don't have a lot of time." She led them down to the lab where she logged onto the computer. Several programmes of forensic scanning came up. "You told me earlier Brick how you tried to catch that hitman Joe Briggs, but you accidently followed the wrong blood trail. Well, this software can help you scan and identify blood samples for example. Or things like fingerprints or DNA" Wendy explained.

"And how's he supposed to take that with him?" Butch questioned.

"I can try downloading the software into this phone here" she plugged a wire into the computer and then into an old touchscreen phone that was on the table. The software then started to download. "There" she unplugged it, and handed the phone to Brick. "Would she be able to work the software from there. It's also connected to this computer, so you'll have access to the national criminal database."

"Ok then. I'm off to the scene of the raid, I'll stay in contact. Boomer, Butch, you two stay here." The ruff leader then zipped out of the room and house, towards the address of the storage room that Wendy told him earlier.

Wendy herself was on the computer now, and was able to speak to Brick via the computer. "Wait a second, what about Bubbles? We're not going to be there to meet her" Boomer remembered.

"Bubbles? As in, the Powerpuff girl Bubbles?" Wendy looked at him.

"It's a long story, but she's the only one other than you to know where we live" Butch explained.

"She meets us most nights at the warehouse. She likes to check on us to see how we're doing" added Boomer.

"Is that why you three always want to go back at night?" wondered Wendy.

"Well we, can't make her fly all that way for nothing can we?" Boomer excused. "Is it alright if go and tell her what's happening?"

"Well, if you're just going to the warehouse. And I suppose, if she wants to, you can bring her back here" Wendy gave permission.

"Thanks." The blue ruff, like his red brother, zipped off out of the house.

"I don't why he asked you permission to leave" Butch commented. "Like you're his mom or something."

Wendy paused before saying "Let's see where Brick is." She pressed a button on the keyboard. "Brick are you there?"

On the other end, the ruff was approaching the storage room at the docks, which was surrounded by police and crime scene tape. There were also ambulances. Brick could hear Wendy in a earpiece. "I've arrived Wendy. There's no one inside the building." He scanned with his x-ray vision. "I'm going to silently float inside."

" _Be careful the police don't see you Brick, that'll just complicate things"_ he heard Wendy on the earpiece.

"The police are probably busy waiting for anything from the mob, about their 'hostage'" Butch figured.

Inside the storage room there were blood spills, knocked over crates, and various objects that were scattered during the fight. "This was a gunfight, obviously" Brick noticed the shell casings lying around, and the various bullet holes. He noticed something else though. "This is strange."

" _What?"_ asked Wendy on the earpiece.

"Some of the stash the mob had in this storage room was left behind after the fight, but only some of it is actually drugs, the rest is, medical equipment?" He scanned it with the phone and an image of it came up on the computer back in the lab.

"Wait a minute, that's not just medical equipment, that's testing equipment, medical testing" Wendy recognised.

"Why are the mob smuggling something like that?" Brick wondered.

"Um, Brick, could we focus on that later? It's just that my father's still-"

"Oh right of course" Brick remembered and scanned the floor with the phone until it picked up some DNA traces that matched chief Mccoy. "By the looks of things, he was struck to the floor by someone behind him, and judging by where the DNA is, your father was hiding behind that crate, that's why he didn't see the person sneak up behind him. There's also a trail of blood patches leading out that door, but it's not your father's blood" he scanned it. "It belonged to the person dragging him."

Wendy identified the person with the computer, so Brick knew at least one of the assailants. "Wait, there's something else on the floor. It looks like broken pieces of a phone. Iphone galaxy make" Brick realised.

"That's the make of my father has" told Wendy.

"Well it looks like he still has it on him, although broken, can you trace the SIM card?" asked Brick.

"Since I have his number, yes, I can trace it to a certain area."

"Providing they haven't taken it off him" Butch pointed out.

"Boomer's been awfully quiet" Brick noticed.

"He's, not here" said Wendy.

"He's gone to the warehouse to tell Bubbles what's happening" explained Butch.

By now Boomer had met with Bubbles, who had arrived at the warehouse, confused to where the other two Rowdyruffs were. The blue ruff explained everything to her, about Brick and Wendy's father. "I hate just leaving Brick to go out there by himself against the mob. He helped me with the hostage situation at the mall, despite wanting to remain neutral. He seems to be changing his mind on that quite recently."

"Then why don't you help him?" Bubbles proposed. "I'll never leave my sisters to face something on their own, despite how much they protest against it. We've been getting captured quite a lot recently" she said that last part quite quietly.

Boomer was determined this time. "Well, crime going on or not, my brother's in danger right, so, can't I help stop this one crime? Or, second, after the mall incident" he figured

The ruff without a doubt knew he didn't want his brother hurt, but he also knew Brick could handle himself, plus he didn't even know where Brick was right now. He could be anywhere. He sighed. "Well, I'd better get looking, and I know where to start " he zoomed off in the direction of Wendy's house.

'He's actually going to-' Bubbles couldn't help but smile in admiration. "Wait up Boomer!" she followed him with her own super speed

Brick flew out of the storage room quietly and followed the signal that Wendy managed to trace. "Okay let's see" he looked around with his x-ray vision. "Ah hah, the old abandoned cardboard factory. I can see them in there. Wendy, I'm going to have to switch off the earpiece for a while. If I talk they'll hear me, and I prefer to do this as quickly as possible."

"But Brick-" Wendy tried to protest.

"It's the only way I can do this without putting your father in anymore danger" proclaimed Brick. "You can track me with the phone anyway." He switched off the earpiece and floated into the abandoned factory. He landed on a walkway above a group of people, one who was in a police jacket semi unconscious tied to a chair. Brick figured that was chief Mccoy.

'This would be easy normally, by just going at superspeed and knocking them all out. But I have to take out the one holding the gun to the chief's head first, so he doesn't get startled and accidentally pull the trigger' Brick planned out.

"So what do we do with him?" asked one of the mobsters. "The storage room's gone to the cops and they're no doubt going to trace something back to us."

"I don't think so. Alotta things were destroyed in the fight" another said. "I'm more worried about chiefy here."

"What, are we gonna use him as a bargaining tool?"

"For what? The boss has got everything covered, and she won't like it if we bring him back to one of the hideouts. Just off him."

A red streak then zoomed towards the one holding the gun and took him out. "What!" the mobsters turned around to see the red Rowdyruff floating there. "It's one of the those, ruff boys, what do you want?" they pulled out their own guns and aimed for him.

Brick zoomed towards them as well, knocking them all out with his strength. Once that was taken of, he floated over to the chief and zapped the ropes on his wrists. "Chief Mccoy?"

The chief, who was now fully conscious and had witnessed the whole thing, looked up in both surprise and confusion at the Rowdyruff. "You? You're a-, you were there that other night with the shooting and officer Jones. Why are you helping me? What do you want?"

"I want to get you out of here to safety" Brick explained.

"Why?" Mccoy questioned skeptical of the boy's motives, grabbing his own gun from the table on the side.

"Like I told Jones, I don't want to hurt any cop. I heard you were in danger so I tracked you here to save you" said Brick.

"For some reason I don't believe that-" several other mobsters then burst in from the other room cutting the chief off mid sentence.

"What the-? It's that Rowdyruff kid!" they too pulled out their guns. Brick as quick as a flash, flew the chief upwards and onto the upper walkways, but when he did the phone fell out of his pocket and smashed on the floor. "Damn." Unfortunately, that phone was what also powered the earpiece.

"Brick? Brick!" Wendy lost contact with him when the phone smashed. She pressed a couple of buttons on the computer but she couldn't talk to him. "Oh no. No I-, I can't contact Brick. I have to go there."

Butch thought for a second, he didn't want to get involved in this. He thought he made that perfectly clear by now. Besides, he'd seen his brother go against shooters before, this was no different, he knew Brick would be alright. And another thing he knew, was that Brick wouldn't like it one bit if he let Wendy go out to that place by herself. That and, other than Bubbles, she was the only other one that was kind to them. He had to stop her, so Brick wouldn't get mad of course.

"Wendy no, you can't go there, you'll be killed" he floated in front of her.

"But, Brick, and my father-," the scientist couldn't argue. Even if she did go out what could she do?

"I've seen Brick do something like this before, bullets can't hurt his skin, you should know that. He'll get your father out, remember the mall incident?" Butch managed to persuade her.

Wendy had an anxious look on her face. "So I'm supposed to just sit and wait here?"

"You sent Brick out, that's more than the police could've done."

The scientist sighed. "You're, you're right Butch. Brick will do it, he'll rescue him." She still sounded afraid. "I suppose, we go upstairs and, wait for him, I guess."

Butch, starting to feel slightly bad for the woman who had fed them, awkwardly put his hand on her back as they went back upstairs to the living room. 'I wonder if Boomer's met up with Bubbles yet.'

At that moment, he heard a tapping on the window, which only he heard with his super hearing, and floated towards it after Wendy went into the livingroom. There at the window was his said blue brother, and Butch opened it. "Boomer? Aren't you supposed to be meeting with Bubbles?"

"I did" he gestured behind him to the Powerpuff.

"Hi Butch" she waved. "So this is where that scientist you've been seeing lives."

"Butch, I'm going to help Brick, I don't care what he says anymore, can you tell me where he is now?" Boomer requested.

"We lost contact with him a when he got to the old cardboard factory" Butch explained.

"So that's where he-, wait you lost contact? That settles it now I have to help him" Boomer was about to head off before his brother quickly said:

"Wait Boomer you," he spoke in a very quiet and 'can't believe what I'm saying' tone of voice. "You be careful."

Boomer paused taking that in, but then remembered "Thanks bro. Bubbles come on" the blues zoomed off.

Brick flew the chief out into an alleyway before flying back inside. "Wait where you going?" questioned Mccoy.

"I have to catch these punks don't I?" Brick answered and was met with gunfire from the mobsters when he went back inside. The bullets did not hurt him in the slightest and the ruff took out a few of the mobsters. However one of them from a distance fired some sort of dart at him, which actually did cut his skin, right through his shirt.

'What?' Brick pulled the dart out. 'Duranium darts? With antidote x vials? But how did they-?" he started to feel slightly weaker, and floated lower to the ground. But he couldn't back down, not now. He had been shot with several antidote x vials before and was still standing then.

"Shoot him again with that!" one mobster shouted.

"I can't I only had the one vial!"

"But he's still fightin'!"

Brick zapped the guns out their hands but one mobster punched him down, since he was weaker now. He fell onto a conveyor belt which had been activated during the fight. "Look we've got no time for this, let's just burn any signs of a fight here, and head back to the hideout" a mobster suggested.

They set alight to some old cardboard with a lighter they had and dashed to the exit. Brick pushed himself off the conveyor belt and still somehow managed to float, despite being injected with antidote x and smoke filling the building. He started coughing and dropped to the floor, but still determined to carry on. Outside, chief Mccoy saw the flames rising, and noticed that the boy who saved him hadn't come out. He groaned, as he couldn't believe what he was about to do.

He kicked open the nearest door and ducked as the flames were spreading. He called out "Kid! Kid you in here?" He searched around, trying to keep as low as he could, until he saw the Rowdyruff, trying to stand up, coughing in the smoke.

"Chief? What are you doing in here? Get outside-"

"I can't leave you here to die kid" Mccoy picked up Brick who started to float again and had his arm around the chief's shoulder. The chief led them out the door he came in where they could finally breathe properly.

Boomer and Bubbles had arrived at the factory by now to see the burning building. "Oh no, Brick" Boomer looked around the factory with his x-ray vision but couldn't see his brother. All he saw was a group of mobsters running through the rooms towards the exit. They were bound to know where Brick was. He flew in towards them.

"Boomer wait!" Bubbles called out and was about to follow him in, when she heard with her super hearing what sounded like Brick talking with an old man on the other side of the building. She flew over to investigate.

The mobsters stopped running when they saw the Blue Rowdyruff float in front of them. "What? The other one!"

"Where is my brother?" Boomer was not afraid this time, as Brick was more important.

The mobsters didn't listen however, and pulled their guns on him. It was clear to Boomer he wasn't going to get an answer, so he instinctively fought back and knocked out the rest of the mobsters.

Bubbles had now found the red Rowdyruff, seeing him in the alleyway with an old man. She called for her counterpart. "Boomer! Brick's over here!"

With his super hearing, Boomer had heard her, and relief filled him. He picked up the unconscious mobsters and flew them out, in the direction of Bubbles. When he reached her, he looked down to see his brother, and who he assumed to be chief Mccoy, Wendy's father. "Brick!" He floated down to them, dropping the unconscious mobsters on the floor.

"Boomer? What are you doing here?" Brick coughed.

"Brick, are you alright? What happened?" Boomer saw that his brother wasn't okay.

"Fine, but they are still the mobsters I knocked out that are still inside" Brick coughed.

"Then I'll get 'em" Boomer flew in, much to the other's surprise and flew out with the other unconscious mobsters. "Okay, that's all of them." He turned to his brother "Brick are you hurt?"

"They had an antidote x vial on them, which they shot me with."

"Antidote x?" exclaimed Bubbles in a small whisper. She decided not to float down as it was best if chief Mccoy didn't see her.

"I'd better get back up here, and the fire brigade" said Mccoy who had gotten his radio back from the mobsters whilst still surprised to see two Rowdyruffs come to his aid. "Look kid" he turned to Brick. "I'd better, get you some medical attention shouldn't I?"

"No" Brick refused. "I don't need to go to a hospital. Boomer, lets just go back to the house."

Boomer nodded and he helped Brick float up and they flew off, with Bubbles following them. "House?" Mccoy repeated raising an eyebrow, as police cars and a fire engine had just arrived.

Back at Wendy's house, Butch was sitting on the sofa, wondering if he should tell Wendy about Boomer and Bubbles going to the factory as well. He figured that she would find out eventually anyway, plus deep down he didn't want to tell her. She seemed equally worried about Brick just as much as her father for some reason.

The green was beginning to shake a bit as is was quite cold, though he was use to drafts by now, living in both a prison and a warehouse. He then felt a blanket placed over his shoulders and looked round to see Wendy sitting next to him on the sofa, a mug of steaming hot chocolate in her hand. "You looked cold Butch, here" she offered the mug to him, which he reluctantly took.

"Uh thanks." He could tell, despite her putting on a brave face, she was worried. This was actually making him feel guilty not going with Brick, or Boomer. "Your father will be fine Wendy, trust me."

"I hope so. I don't why, he's been in situations like this before, but I still get worried every time. And I suppose your brother's been through worse and survived" she figured.

Butch took this opportunity to ask her something he wanted to know. "Wendy, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you caring so much about Brick being in danger?"

She paused before honestly answering "I suppose I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I mean, when I cook dinner for you three, or when I see you cold and wrap a blanket around you, or put a band aid on a cut, or even have to tell you off at times" she chuckled at that last part, since the boys would argue with each other sometimes. "Something deep inside of me, wants to keep doing that. I dread the part of the day where you have to go back to the warehouse. It's just nice to have company again I guess, since I've lost family before-"

They both heard a tapping on the window, which turned out to be Boomer with Brick and Bubbles. Wendy let them in and gasped when she saw Brick, and at how weak he looked. "Brick what happened? Also Boomer how did you know where he was? And, Bubbles? The Powerpuff girl?"

Boomer explained the whole thing, about how Butch told him where Brick was after finding Bubbles, who by now Wendy had heard about her visiting them, and most importantly, Wendy's father was safe. She called him to see if he was alright. "Dad? Oh dad thank goodness."

" _I'm okay now Wendy dear. Being checked up now by the medical team. They say I'll live. And well, you're never going to believe me, but a Rowdyruff saved me."_

Wendy pretended to be surprised, and went along with it, smiling all the way through it. After the phone call, she checked on Brick in the lab. "Sorry about the phone Wendy, slipped up and let them get the best of me when they shot me with an antidote x vial" Brick apologised.

"As long as you're safe Brick, that's what matters" replied Wendy. "I'm surprised your powers are still working after being shot with antidote x, still it'll wear off, and your breathing seems to be back to normal. I just wished Boomer told me about him going there as well."

"Yes, what were you doing there Boomer? You don't anything like that without my permission, but nevertheless, thanks for the help" Brick expressed.

"Your welcome bro" Boomer smiled back.

"Yes Brick, thank you for doing that, rescuing my father. He wouldn't have made it out if not for you" Wendy leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

"That was pretty amazing how you went to save Brick like that too" Bubbles turned to Boomer.

"I was?" Boomer asked confused.

"And how you went into that burning building, taking on those mobsters, quite brave if you ask me" Bubbles didn't look him in the eye. "Anyway, I'd better head home now."

"Does your father Professor Utonium know about this Bubbles?" asked Wendy.

"Well, no, actually, wait are you that scientist he mentioned who he used to be friends with?" asked Bubbles, only now just realising, thinking it was a different Wendy.

The scientist nodded. "John and I went to school together back in Townsville, and although it doesn't feel right and I probably should tell him, your secret's safe with me Bubbles. I won't tell."

Bubbles grinned and said goodbye to the boys. "It was nice to meet you Miss Wendy. Bye boys, see you tomorrow Boomie" she giggled and hugged her counterpart before flying off.

"I can't let you three go back to the warehouse now, you can sleep here tonight" offered Wendy.

"Boomie?" repeated Boomer confused.

 **Hello everyone, it's been over a month since I last updated which I'm very sorry about. Been quite busy recently, but here's the next chapter where we see the character relationships develop a bit further, and Wendy and Bubbles finally meet, though I think it could've been longer. They'll have more interaction in the future.**

 **Rowdyruff boys and Powerpuff girls belong to CN.**


	14. Riots in the streets

The boys woke up on the sofa in Wendy's house the next morning, as she only had the one bed, which was her own. Brick rubbed his eyes as he sat up. He had pretty much recovered from last night.

The other two Rowdyruffs stirred but didn't want to actually get up as this sofa was the most comfortable thing they had slept on in a while, but eventually they grudgingly did. Brick wasn't too high spirited either. If anything he seemed quite worried. The events of last night would have definitely put him and his brothers on the mob's hit list. It was just a good thing the three of them were near indestructible. Emphasising the word 'near'.

Boomer looked over to the kitchen and saw that the washing up hadn't been done yet due to the events of last night. "Y'know, Bubbles told me once that she and her sisters do chores around their house sometimes to help the Professor" he told his brothers.

"I suppose, since Wendy let us sleep here, it's the least we could do" Brick figured.

"Chores? Oh why do we have to do that?" Butch moaned lying down on his back.

"Don't you want to help Wendy out?" asked Boomer.

"I, I mean I, I suppose so, after all she did seem quite upset last night" Butch admitted quietly sitting up.

"How upset was she?" Brick asked curiously.

"She had a brave face on, but it was obvious." The green ruff put his head on his hand before figuring "Eh, we have super speed don't we." He zoomed to the kitchen and his brothers followed, washing the dishes in less than ten seconds, as well as cleaning other parts of the kitchen.

"See, it didn't kill ya" Brick pointed out to Butch.

"Y'know" Butch replied "There was a time where doing something like this would've been the last thing you wanted to do."

"Yeah well, there's a lot of worse things" Brick muttered.

At this moment Wendy came down the stairs yawning and in a robe. Once she entered the kitchen she was somewhat surprised to see that the boys had cleaned it. "Oh, thank you boys. You didn't have to-"

"Doesn't matter" dismissed Brick. "We'll be heading off now anyway."

"Alright, but you boys need to have breakfast first, and that's not a request this time" she smiled.

They sat at the table with food in front of them and Wendy talked to them. She wanted them to stay for a bit longer, as she had thinking last night. "So the mob has antidote x somehow, that's worrying."

"Must have saw the mall incident and heard about the shooting the other night, and how we stopped them" Brick figured. "But how did they get something like that?"

"I don't know. Just be more careful when out there, okay?" she advised, clearly worried. Wendy decided to change the subject. "How was the sofa boys? Not too uncomfortable I hope."

"It's better than anything else we've slept on. Heck it's better than prison beds" commented Butch.

"Yes, I figured. It must get really uncomfortable in that warehouse too mustn't it? And cold too? Not to mention going hungry or thirsty from time to time."

"We're managing" Brick shrugged, though inside he did want better conditions for his brothers.

"Wouldn't you boys like somewhere decent to sleep though? Somewhere warm? Where you would be fed everyday and, maybe you'd like an education too?" Wendy inquired, glancing up at them to see their reactions.

"You mean, like going to school?" Boomer wondered. The only thing the boys had to go on with what they thought school was like, was one, what they overheard from other kids, and two, what Bubbles had told them. And they were very mixed on the subject. They had heard so many different things from other kids about how terrible it was. That it was hard, boring, stressful.

But what they heard from Bubbles, it sounded like she enjoyed most parts about it. And the way she described it in such detail, couldn't help but make the boys feel slightly curious about it. Though none of them were too keen on that thing they call 'homework'.

Brick then raised an eyebrow and questioned "And, how would we get all those things Wendy?"

"I've been thinking, and, well you see," she paused. "Actually, maybe it is too forward. Don't worry about cleaning up after breakfast boys, I'll do that." The boys left soon after and flew back to their warehouse, all wondering what Wendy was going to propose, although in the back of his mind, Brick had a slight idea.

In the Founder's police department building, the FDPD, police chief Mccoy was going over the evidence that had been collected from last night. He was wearing some bandages and had cuts all over his face, but he still insisted he come into work today. For a man in his 50s, he could really take a punch. Besides, he wanted to get away for a bit from the wife who was still hysterical about last night.

There wasn't much evidence as most of it was destroyed in the fight, however, thanks to those two Rowdyruffs, several mobsters were caught and arrested, and due to the charges of assaulting the police chief, being bailed out wasn't going to work this time. Each of them were threatened with a worse punishment if they didn't tell the truth and testify in court. And it was that very reason why they had to be protected by police so the rest of the mob couldn't 'silence' them.

Mccoy couldn't help but feel divided on the subject of the Rowdyruffs. It was obvious that they came to this city because of their already tarred reputation in Townsville, and at first he figured that the Rowdyruffs thought they could try their luck in this city. But there was hardly any crimes coming from them. The closest thing was that first day they were sighted, when two of them tried to rob that bakery. Because of this, the police had actually requested some duranium darts to be bought from Townsville.

But chief Mccoy saw the security footage from that place, and their red leader, Brick, stopped the both of them and seemed to have given them a talking down, and amazingly, it actually seemed like he was going to do everything in his power not to get him and his brothers sent back to the prison they were sent to, in a good way. And whatever else he told them, it must've worked, as that blue ruff, Boomer, helped his red brother in saving him from the mob, and actually did the police a favour.

Question was, how did that Brick boy even manage to find him in the first place? He heard that they had x-ray vision and super hearing, so maybe he was just passing by and saw what was happening. He had a phone on him. Maybe he stole it and was flying back to where ever he was hiding. But there were no reports of any Rowdyruff stealing any phone. Even then, why would he save him? Perhaps it was the same reason why Mccoy felt compelled to pull him out that fire.

That, and the mall incident, the shooting incident, reports of the blue Rowdyruff saving a baby, maybe, just maybe, there was a chance, of those Rowdyruff boys actually leaving their life of crime behind. Though he figured it was too much of a longshot. As the police chief, he must remain professional and stay wary of the three Rowdyruffs. He still wasn't certain about them, and this could all still be an act for he knew, however unlikely it seemed.

The hours went by and it was a surprisingly quiet day for Founders city, when it came to crime. Though Mccoy was going to be going home at 9 o'clock tonight, which was like most nights, given the crime rate of Founders.

"Carl, you in there? Looks like it's going to be an early night" a high ranking officer, who was quite good friends with Mccoy, hence why addressing him informally, knocked on his door.

"Yeah sure Bill I'll be right there, just let me get my things-" Mccoy was interrupted when suddenly the power blinked out, making it go dark. "What the hell-?"

"Carl?" the officer came through the door and saw the silhouette of the chief. "What the hell happened?"

"Power's gone" Mccoy realised, switching the light on his phone on.

"It doesn't look like it's just us" said the officer looking out the window, and when the chief did too, he saw that the whole district that the FDPD building was in, had suffered a power cut too. A blackout.

"Great, how the hell did this happen?" groaned the officer.

Mccoy then remembered "The fire in the cardboard factory last night. There are major power lines next to that factory, they must've been damaged by it."

"Well it looks like there's going to be a lot more fires Carl, you know what blackouts mean in this city" reminded the officer, and Mccoy swallowed a breath, knowing what was coming.

Half an hour later, it started. People took advantage of that district suffering from a blackout, a district which just so happened to be full of shops and small businesses. Riots began in the streets. The sounds of windows being smashed, people shouting, alarms going off were heard beyond the district. The smoke and light could be seen from blocks away.

No one would dare attack the police building though, not since the police had guns. Mccoy and the other officers inside were ordered not to leave the building for their own safety, until the riot squad had gotten things under control.

It wasn't long before Bubbles had arrived in Founders city for that night, not knowing whether the boys would be at the warehouse or Wendy's place. While flying over the city, she too indeed saw the riots going on. She gasped, and heard the people up in their residencies above their business, clearly trapped and in trouble. Her first thought was to fly down and help those people, but she realised, even with super speed, she wouldn't be able to help everyone in the district of her own in time. She had to get help from the only people she could get it from.

She checked the warehouse first, and thankfully, that's where the boys were. They were sat around a fire warming themselves. They weren't at Wendy's house this time because truthfully, they weren't sure if there was a reason too this time, even though deep down each of them wanted there to be one.

Bubbles flew into the warehouse and looked down at them. "Boys, you're here! Thank goodness! Listen, there's a riot, going on right now! Over in the district with-" she spouted out all at once.

"Woah Bubbs, slow down, what did you see?" Boomer floated to her.

"Use your super hearing" she instructed them, which they did so and their eyes widened.

"That sounds like, some sort of riot" Butch deduced.

"It is. There's one happening right now downtown. There are families trapped in buildings, I saw them! I can't help them all on my own" Bubbles pleaded.

"So you want us to help?" Boomer inquired, looking unsure and then at Brick, who he himself looked in deep thought.

"Families?" Brick repeated. "Boomer, Butch, c'mon, we'd better help." He flew out of the warehouse and saw the smoke and light in the distance.

"Guess we're helping" Boomer figured, making Bubbles smile with hope. "You coming Butch?" he asked.

"Eh, what choice do I have?" Butch muttered and flew out with the blue counterparts and joined Brick.

"There! It's happening over there!" Bubbles pointed and the four of them zoomed over to see most of the district on fire. Shop windows were smashed and looted, and even some gunshots were heard.

"Look, above that shop!" Boomer saw with his x-ray vision people trapped inside. Brick could hear other people trapped in buildings too.

"Boomer, you help get those people trapped out of those buildings. Bubbles, concentrate on putting out the fires. Use your supersonic screams, the force of wind from them should blow the fire out. Butch, I need your help you come with me" Brick ordered, to which Boomer, and although she wasn't used to receiving orders from a Rowdyruff, Bubbles followed too.

"What are we doing?" Butch turned to his red brother.

"I need you to help me with those martial arts moves you know. We've gotta stop these rioters from damaging anything else or putting more people in danger."

"Can't we just use our super speed and strength?" wondered Butch.

"There's going to be too many pouncing on us, we'll have to fight them hand to hand" Brick explained, and Butch, although skeptical, followed his brother, and flew down with him into the fray of the rioters.

The rioters themselves were surprised to see the two boys. Some initially thought that they were there to loot with them, that is until Brick made the first move and sped into a rioter holding a liquor bottle with a flaming handkerchief hanging out, and hit him unconscious.

After that, some rioters ran, and some foolishly chose to fight. Butch easily countered any punches thrown however, and with moves he had clearly practiced before, threw oncoming attackers to the other side of the street. He was back to back with Brick, and the brothers fended off any challenger. "Arms close to your body" Butch advised.

Brick remembered most of the moves and techniques that Butch taught him in their spare time. Flying into the stores, Brick apprehended most of the adversaries attempting to steal the items inside. Whilst doing so, Brick managed to catch a few glimpses of his brother fighting, and for someone who seemed very reluctant to get involved in this, he was handling himself very well, which actually made Brick smile in admiration, before being hit back into reality with a wooden plank. Brick carried on with the fight.

Sometimes, Butch would get carried away when attacking the opponents, but Brick would stop him. "Butch, easy!" he would command. The pair did this street to street.

Boomer had by now zipped in and out of the residences above most stores and most buildings, and getting them to safety. 'How many more times am I going to fly people out of a burning building?'

Bubbles had some luck putting out the fires using Brick's method. She had to admit, that was kinda clever. When she was fighting the gang green gang the other day with her sisters, and the gang somehow managed to set a whole building on fire, it took Blossom a while to figure out how to fight it. On her fifth building, a burst of flames blew up in front of her and some smoke stung her eyes, temporally blindsiding her, just before part of the ceiling collapsed on her.

She wiped her eyes and could see again, but when she tried to lift the rubble off her, it was too hot and she burned herself. "Ah!" she cried.

Boomer had just about rescued everyone in the district, but by now the carbon monoxide had gotten to him, from staying in the buildings for too long. He was weak and coughing quite a lot. Landing in the middle of the street, Brick and Butch soon joined him. "Boomer did you save everyone?"

The blue ruff nodded and went to say something but instead just kept coughing. "The smoke" Brick realised. "Boomer, take deep breaths" he advised worrying about his brother.

"Where's Bubbles?" Boomer croaked. The three of them then heard her cry for help with their super hearing and looked up to a building which they were close to. "She's in there! She's in trouble, we have to-" the blue ruff coughed.

"No Boomer, you need to stay here and recover, I'll get her" Brick zoomed into the building and the other two watched with anticipation, until in a red streak, Brick flew out of the flames, carrying Bubbles in his arms and her holding onto him. He set her down. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Uh huh" she nodded. "Boomie! Are you alright?" she gasped.

"I'll live" he assured.

"I'd better see if the police and medical people are out yet?" she flew off up into the air, and Brick let her do so as it was safe.

"Does she mean, paramedics?" Butch commented. The boys then heard vans pull up and saw the riot squad were arresting the rioters, conscious and unconscious.

Chief Mccoy, who had a good view from atop the FDPD building a few minutes ago, was amazed at what he saw. There were coloured streaks, saving people and apprehending the rioters. It must've been them. The Rowdyruff boys. He was now with the riot squad, organising them, and when someone shouted "Look! It's them!" and pointed to the boys, he was hesitant when an officer asked "Permission to shoot sir?"

Mccoy stared at the boys. They weren't doing anything. In fact they had just helped them, they had actually quelled this riot for them. Bill, the officer next to Mccoy, gave the order. "Permission granted."

"No wait!" Mccoy tried to say but the officer fired duranium darts with tranquiliser in them at the boys.

"What? Oh not again-" Butch groaned and started to feel dizzy, Boomer felt the same.

"Boomer! Butch!" Brick tried to stay awake, but deja vu was happening and he was shot with another dart which he finally blacked out on, 10 seconds after his brothers did.

"You got them okay now stand down" chief Mccoy ordered the officer.

Bubbles while flying in the air, saw that the riot squad were making arrests and ambulances were helping people. She smiled and flew back to where the boys were, but gasped when she saw that they were unconscious and being taken away by police. Immediately she wanted to help them, and explain to the police that they were helping, trying to stop the riot. A riot she had told them about. Waves of guilt and worry rushed through her.

But if she revealed she was helping them, what would the police do to her? But she couldn't just leave the boys. Wendy, her father's the chief of police. If she got her help, she could explain the situation to her father. Bubbles flew off in the direction of where she remembered her house to be.

Brick, Boomer and Butch awoke in a similar situation, in some sort of cell. They found themselves in duranium handcuffs in some sort of room. The cuffs had weights on them. "Ugh my head" Boomer moaned. "Well at least I can breath normally again. Wait, oh no" he felt the cuffs on him. "Brick, Brick they've got us! They got us again Brick!"

"See this is exactly why I didn't like doing stuff like this" scorned Butch.

"Calm down you two, don't panic" Brick advised, as he went through the facts in his head. Boomer had saved people, and they stopped rioters. Witness statements should be in favour. Plus there should be CCTV footage of them right?

"You three, we're taking you to the mayor" an officer got their attention.

"Mayor? Mayor of Founders city?" Boomer looked up.

"C'mon we haven't got all day" other police officers had guns trained on them.

"Just do what they say" Brick advised to his brothers calmly, and they escorted to an office where they saw a woman sat at a desk, with a secretary beside her. She looked somewhat nervous.

"So, you three are the infamous Rowdyruff boys from Townsville. I feel like you should inform you three, that we're going to hold you in custody, until we find evidence, if there is any, against you, as we are still unsure of your motives" the mayor explained.

Brick remained calm. "Look Mrs Mayor, if you just let me explain now, I can tell you everything."

Meanwhile at a desk in city hall, a man sat a computer when without looking up he noticed a woman approach the desk. "Hello I'm here to see the mayor" she said.

"Name?" asked the man.

"Wendy Innlost" the woman replied, to which the man slowly looked up.

"Innlost?" he paused. "As in, Mrs _Mark_ Innlost?" The woman nodded and smiled.

"It's you isn't it? Wendy. He told me about you, I used to work with Mark in the Founder's science labs, I was his assistant" the man shook her hand.

"Yes hello Robert" Wendy chuckled. "Mark told me about you too."

"Yeah I'm, sorry I couldn't make it to the funeral, Mark was a brilliant man" Robert remembered. "Things haven't gone so well since he passed, hence why I work part time here."

"It's fine Robert. I'm here to see the mayor."

"Ah yes, she's actually in a meeting right now-"

"With the Rowdyruff boys, yes I know."

"How did you-?"

"Oh I, actually wanted to see her about that too." She then said in a quiet tone so Robert wouldn't hear "And my hopes to adopt them."

 **Hey guys, another chapter. You know I noticed I haven't done a Bubbles chapter recently, so there'll probably be one soon. This chapter focussed on chief Mccoy a bit and exploring his character, also a bit of deja vu. I decided to tweak the summary again a bit too. I don't think I'll ever be happy with it. Anyway, thanks ekka189, John Armstrong and Bigou for reviewing.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff Boys belong to CN.**


	15. The Innlosts

In the room next to the mayor's office, Wendy stood waiting for someone, pacing a few steps, until she heard the door open, and looked up to see Chief Mccoy walk in. His face expressionless.

"Thanks for coming dad" Wendy said, with some nervousness in her voice.

"So this is true then Wendy. About those boys" Mccoy closed the door behind him.

"Yes, as soon as I heard Brick Boomer and Butch were arrested last night, I needed you to prove that they were innocent" the scientist explained.

"Brick Boomer and Butch?" Mccoy repeated in a tone that pointed out 'you're calling them by their names.' Wendy didn't say anything to that. "How did you know they were innocent?"

"I, just know. They wouldn't do anything like that all of a sudden, not these days. They've been staying neutral for the past couple of weeks, even saved lives a few times" the scientist insisted. Bubbles told her everything when she came to her last night.

"Yes, as you told me on the phone. You said you've been performing these experiments on those boys, on their powers. Wendy don't you realise these are former criminals, dangerous ones." Mccoy, whilst caring about the safety of his daughter, was also somewhat trying to play devil's advocate for his own conflicting thoughts about them.

"Dad they saved your life as well. I'm the one who sent them to rescue you that night, when you were captured by the mob. Look, I know about their past, but the more time I've spent with them, they've never shown any sign of hostility. Genuinely. In fact the reason I think they agreed to rescue you was because they were doing it for me" admitted Wendy.

Mccoy remembered back to when Brick saved him, and in turn he saved Brick. And the ruff did sound pretty genuine at the time. Plus he saw with his own eyes that they were quelling that riot last night. There was the mall incident, and saving officer Jones's life from a shooting. Maybe there was a chance these boys could be used for the good of the city? Maybe.

"Let me just explain" said Wendy "What I'm planning."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Brick explained all he could to the mayor. He had to tell her everything, as he really had no choice, to prove their innocence. Though he left out everything to do with Bubbles, wanting to keep her out of this.

"So, you three were in this, warehouse of yours, when you saw the fires of last night, and you decided to intervene?" the mayor repeated what she heard from the red Rowdyruff.

"That's right" Brick confirmed. "If we had any intention of stealing, we would've done that instantly with our super speed, instead of apprehending all those crooks."

The mayor thought for a minute, not quite sure what to do, as the Rowdyruff boys, or at least Boomer and Butch, looked on hopefully at her.

She then said to them "You must understand, that we still have to hold you three in our custody for now, until we find out what's really going on with you, as you are still considered dangerous. We need more to go on than just, 'your word'."

The boys didn't look too hopeful at that. Not until they heard the door open behind them, and both the chief of police and their scientist friend walked in. "Wendy!" the three of them all said at the same time. All equally surprised.

"Chief Mccoy, I'm glad you're here" the mayor greeted. "I need you to keep these three in custody until more evidence is found."

"No need ma'am, that's actually why I'm here" he said in a calm tone, pulling out a slip of paper from his coat, walking over to the mayor's desk. "The police department's already searched for evidence against these boys, and due to the lack of it, and all of the witness statements saying that these three were fighting the rioters and not committing any sort of crime, this is a pardon slip for them."

The police officers in the room pointing their guns at the boys didn't look to sure about this.

"You mean, we're free to go?" Boomer asked.

"You do realise who these boys are, Chief Mccoy?" the mayor reminded.

"I know all too well ma'am, but technically, these boys haven't done anything I can charge them for."

"And how can we trust these boys to behave, after you let them go?" the mayor inquired.

"That's, where my daughter comes in, Mrs mayor" Mccoy responded and the three ruffs turned to her.

Wendy then spoke up "Mrs mayor, I've personally known these boys for the past few weeks now, and as my father has explained, they haven't committed any crimes whatsoever. They've just been scavenging the streets for food and any means to live. They have neither harmed me, nor anyone that wasn't acting hostile toward them apart from the rioters. They have actually done this town a lot of favours, and we're lucky, because they didn't even want to get involved in any affairs at first. They even ended up saving lives and apprehending criminals."

She got to the point. "So if they were put in parental custody of someone, someone who would keep an eye on them and look after them, you'll find that they'll be no threat to this city."

The mayor looked at her quizzically. "Are you suggesting that they be adopted by someone? And who would do that exactly?"

"Well, I was going to suggest someone like, me" Wendy answered, making the boys and other people in the room, apart from the chief, look at her in disbelief, with some officers whispering to each other asking if she was crazy.

The mayor scoffed. "I hardly think you can look after three super powered children. What if they attack you?"

"They haven't attacked me as of yet" countered the scientist.

The mayor sighed "Look, Ms Innlost-"

" _Mrs_ Innlost" Wendy corrected.

"Mrs Innlost, my backers would be against this heavily" the mayor explained.

"Oh yes your, 'financial backers', as you put it" Wendy said in a sarcastic tone. "Since Brick Boomer and Butch had been found innocent, and are homeless, there's no reason that I can't go through the adoption process with them."

She then quickly took the keys from an officer's belt and unlocked the cuffs on the boys. "What are you doing!" the officer exclaimed.

"I'll prove they're not dangerous."

The cuffs fell to the floor with a thud and the mayor, her secretary, and the officers pointing their guns, jumped back a bit, expecting an attack. But the boys just floated there, looking at them with blank faces.

The mayor exhaled "Never do anything like that again Mrs Innlost." She sighed again. "Fine. You may take them, but they will still be kept an eye on by the police, and they are your responsibility, you understand?"

"Absolutely, I'll see these boys and myself out." She gestured for them to follow her, and taking one look back at the mayor, the boys floated out the room after her.

"Chief Mccoy" the mayor said "I know you're a busy man, but try to check on those boys regularly will you."

The chief nodded. "They shouldn't bother this city ma'am. Believe me, if they show any signs of trouble then I'll deal with it" he assured.

"Your daughter seemed very keen on them" the secretary pointed out.

"Yes I, I don't know if it something to do with it but, but I still don't think she's gotten over her husband yet." Mccoy turned to his officers in the room "You men come with me. We're done in here."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The Rowdyruff boys floated alongside the scientist at eye level. They were silent for a while, until Brick became the first to speak "Wendy, um, thanks, for that. Sorry you had to, reveal everything to your father and the mayor, though your dad did seem pretty reasonable."

"Yes, and I left without thanking him properly" she sighed regretfully. "I'll have to talk to him later."

"I'm surprised he let us go. Was there really no evidence against us?" Butch wondered.

"You boys didn't do anything so of course not. My dad hasn't told me, specifically anyway, what his opinion of you three is, but he did his job, as all the witness statements and CCTV footage prove that you were rescuing people last night" Wendy explained.

"Speaking of which, how did you know we were arrested? Is this on the news?" Brick questioned.

"Well sadly, the news reported on it yes, but that's not how I found out. Bubbles came to me."

"Bubbles? So that's what happened to her. Is she alright?" asked Boomer.

"Yes, she told me everything. She was very worried and felt guilty about the whole thing. I managed to calm her down and tell her I'd deal with it the next day. That she should go home and call me secretly when she got the chance. I gave her my cell phone number" Wendy explained.

"She must be worried" remarked Boomer, before bringing up something else from earlier. "So, does this mean, we're going to be living with you now Wendy?"

"Hm? Oh, right, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you boys about it, I wanted to yesterday,"

"I thought that's what you were alluding to" Brick told her. "You realise, if you do that, it means, well, it means you'll be our, our-"

"Mother? Yes, I do. Only if you boys are okay with it of course" she hoped.

The three ruffs didn't know quite what to feel at this moment. An actual parent? Not like Mojo or HIM, but an actual human parent who didn't just want them for evil schemes, who would take care of them, living like, well, normal children? "Won't this look bad on you?" questioned Butch.

"I'll ask my father and the mayor to keep this adoption affair private, away from the likes of the media. To assure the citizens of Founders, they'll have to be told you're being adopted, but they don't have to know who by" Wendy smiled at them.

"What just did you mean about the mayor's 'financial backers' anyway?" wondered Brick.

Wendy did a short fake laugh "Well, there's been a lot of investigations and inquiries about old misery mayor back there, for corruption and things like that. Accepting bribes, illegal money. It's what you call a public secret. Everyone knows it's true but no one talks about it or does anything. Anyway," she changed the subject. "How do you three feel about, what I proposed?"

There was a pause, then Boomer finally said "It'll be nice to live in an actual house instead of an evil lair, prison cell or an old warehouse."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Bubbles had been worried all day about the events of last night. She's the one who ushered them to go and fight in that riot. Brick even saved her life, and now they've been arrested, the very last thing the boys wanted. This was all her fault. She tried to put on her usual cheerful face so no one would suspect anything, though it was a strain to wait to get home from school.

When she finally did it was a relief, though she had to wait again until no one was around to hear her using the kitchen phone. She called the number.

" _Hello."_

"Mrs Wendy, it's me, Bubbles, what happened to the boys?" the Powerpuff whispered.

" _Bubbles, yes, they're here, I managed to convince my father to pardon them, they're free to go."_

" _Hey Bubbles"_ Boomer's voice was heard.

"Boomie!" Bubbles said a little bit too loudly, but luckily no one heard her.

" _Bubbles"_ Brick was now speaking _"Thanks for, getting help, and making sure we wouldn't get in trouble."_

"No Brick, thank you, for getting me out of that burning building last night. I feel guilty about getting you three involved in that riot."

" _Don't worry Bubbles. I've already talked to them about my plans for the future"_ Wendy told Bubbles everything about planning to adopt the boys and that they'd be living with her, which Bubbles tried really hard not to squeal from excitement. _"And the public won't know where they're living, so they'll be alright from them."_

"Well thank goodness, I've been so worried all day, and, is it okay that I still visit them?"

Wendy chuckled _"Of course dear. Though are you sure about not telling your father and sisters?"_

Bubbles looked down "To be honest, I'm not quite sure how they'd react. I was hoping to play with the boys still in secret, if that's okay?"

" _If that's what you want Bubbles, then okay"_ Wendy accepted.

The blonde puff then heard the Professor approaching the kitchen so she whispered "I gotta go, thank you ever so much for helping them Mrs Wendy." She hung up, and quickly flew out the kitchen pretending not to know the Professor was coming.

Later that evening after dinner in the Utonium household, Blossom and Bubbles were washing the dishes as part of their chores, while Buttercup was kicking a soccer ball outside in the garden, muttering to herself.

"You seem a lot more cheerful than earlier today Bubbles" the pink puff observed about her sister.

"Oh, yes, well I was quite worried about Buttercup and her match today, whether her team would win in the school's girls soccer tournament or not" Bubbles thought of quickly.

"But they lost" Blossom reminded.

"Uh, I'm just relieved is all, that's she's taking it so well" lied Bubbles, just as they heard a tree in the distance get knocked down by a soccer ball that had hit it with a force. "As well as she can take it anyway."

"That's the third tree now, doesn't she know this sort of thing impacts the environment?" Blossom sighed.

"Say Blossom" Bubbles began, not looking her sister in the eye. "Say if, Buttercup were to turn around and actually admit that the reason they lost today, wasn't because the referee was biased like she said, but because she foul tackled two of the opposite team's players, one during the game and one after, would you accept her admitting she was wrong?"

Blossom raised an eyebrow at her sister. What kind of question was that? "Um, sure I would, though it's Buttercup, so I doubt it'll actually happen"

"And if she started turning her tactics in soccer around, and played better, would you support her?" Bubbles asked further.

"Of course I would, she is my sister, believe it or not" Blossom answered glancing out the window again. "Why are you asking me this Bubbles?"

"Oh, I, just feel sorry for her. I still believe people can turn their game around" Bubbles smiled.

"Still think that huh? I guess, some people, not all people, but some people can change, but I doubt anyone like Sedusa, or Mojo, or someone like that can. Anyway, we're done with the dishes, I'm heading off to finish next week's biology homework, as I've already done this week's" Blossom floated off.

Bubbles figured that maybe, if she was going to tell about the boys, she should wait a bit longer.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

During that same evening in Founders, Brick Boomer and Butch were waiting for Wendy to return home, as she was down at city hall again.

They had even more time to think about this new 'arrangement'. And the more they thought about it, the more they liked it. "So we'll actually have a family? A real actual family? Not one where we would take orders from someone or serve as henchmen, but like other kids, and how they live?" Boomer expressed most excitement.

"We'll have food, a roof over our heads, somewhere warm to sleep, and we're more likely to be kept out of trouble this way" Brick figured. "I think it's without a doubt the best option to take."

"Yeah and, I guess, Wendy will have us to, keep her company as well, in this place" Butch muttered quite quietly, though the other two still noticed. "Are we really going to be like normal kids though?" Butch said skeptically.

"Not _entirely_ normal, with our powers and past and all" Brick proclaimed. "Although, remember how Bubbles described fighting crime in Townsville, and given all the families that were affected by crime in this city that we've seen, similar to how we were terrorised by criminals, do you think, that maybe, possibly," Brick stopped. "Actually never mind."

The front door then opened and Wendy walked through, holding some papers in her hands.

"Wendy! How'd it go?" Boomer floated up from the floor upon seeing her.

"Hello boys. It went better than I thought. These are actually the adoption papers" she showed them to the trio.

"Doesn't adoption take months?" asked Brick,

"Normally, but you three are a special case, since the police and mayor want you in someone's custody as soon as possible, an exception was made. And now, it's official."

The boys saw their names on the papers. "So, does this mean-?" Boomer was about to say.

"That's right" Wendy knelt down to their level. She had the happiest look on her face that the boys had ever seen. Genuinely happy. "You're, you're my sons. You three are now Brick, Boomer, and Butch Innlost."

 **So the boys have a family again, a real family. I know I said there'll be a Bubbles chapter soon, which will happen, so don't you guys worry:) Maybe it'll be part of the next chapter, which will focus on the boys settling in to this new life as well. Again, thanks for all the favs, follows and reviews. I'm always happy to read them.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	16. Hopefully, a normal life

The next morning outside the Innlost house, a truck had just dropped a bed off, which Wendy had ordered the previous day.

"You sure you don't want us to carry this in ma'am?" the delivery driver asked.

"No it's okay, I have people inside the house who can help me" replied Wendy.

As the van drove off, the three Rowdyruffs flew out, just having woken up themselves. "This ours?" Butch pointed to the bed.

"Yes, sorry about you three having to sleep on the sofa again last night, the bed wasn't coming 'til this morning, Now you can-, wait boys!" the boys already picked up the bed, unscrewed some parts and flew it in the door.

And of course, the scientist followed them upstairs. "You should let me help put the bed back together, first?" upon entering the room, she saw that the boys already had set it up quite nicely. "Oh! You had no trouble then?"

"It's only a bed. Just have to screw a few things in" Boomer shrugged. "This is the right room though isn't it?" he asked looking around.

Wendy chuckled "Yes, it is. The other guest room has no windows, and I'm not particularly fond of you three 'zapping' some in. Bubbles told me about when she and her sister's first 'decorated' their room. Speaking of which, I think these walls need a new colour, don't you?"

She had only gone downstairs for a minute, to fetch a large cans of blue paint, only to walk into the room again to find the boys had covered the bed, door ceiling and windows with newspaper. "Ah, I see you've covered areas to protect them from the paint. Now if we just-,"

"Yeah, you uh, might want to move for this Wendy" Butch interrupted taking the cans of paint, before pushing her out the door and closing it.

"Wait Butch, what are you-" she tried to say.

"Okay, where to Brick?" Butch held up the cans, as the red ruff examined them.

"Just about there" he pointed to a spot on the can to which both Butch and Boomer fired their laser vision at them all, causing the cans to explode. Upon hearing this explosion, Wendy instantly opened the door again, wondering what on earth they could be doing.

"Boys are you-" she entered the room to find that the walls had been covered in blue paint completely. The paint hit the walls leaving no mess or bits that were missed or anything.

"Just a matter of holding the cans in the right position, and hitting them in the right place." Brick wiped the paint from his face. "Not sure if reckless or efficient but it got the job done."

"Hm yes" Wendy remarked still gazing at the walls. "Only you three could do something that would scientifically impress, well, a scientist. And like you said Brick, efficient, especially at getting you three covered in paint too" she giggled pointing at them. "C'mon, we'll finish in here and run you three a bath."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

After removing the newspaper and painting the part behind the bed they had missed, the ruffs stood outside the bathroom door still covered in blue paint, and Wendy stepped out. "Okay, there's a bath waiting for you three. You wash yourselves while I'll deal with the delivery of furniture that's just arrived, as well as your new clothes."

"There are new clothes ordered for us?" inquired Boomer.

"Well when I say 'new', they look exactly the same as the ones you normally wear, your respective colours with the black stripe and trousers. And they weren't ordered, I have a self-sowing machine down in the lab."

Their new mother then headed back downstairs and the paint covered three looked at the inside of the bathroom. "Y'know, we haven't had a decent wash since the showers in the offshore prison, I mean, I don't count washing our faces in the Founders park pond" Boomer floated into the bathroom.

"Yeah and I still hate newts" remarked Butch. "And I'm not getting in that bath, I always hated it when I had to wash myself."

"Oh my gosh! Wait, Butch! You have to try this!" Boomer was now in the tub, his dirty clothes on the side.

Butch started to float away "Ha! If you think I'm getting in there, that's-"

"But no Butch, it's warm!"

"What? No way!" the green ruff instantly spun around and retracted his statements, zooming into the bathroom.

When coming back up the stairs, Wendy could hear Boomer and Butch enjoying themselves with the toy submarines in the bath, but saw that Brick was still outside the door. "Don't you want your bath yet Brick?"

The Rowdyruff glanced at his brothers with skeptical look. "I think, I'll have mine later. I don't mind being a member of the blue man group for a bit longer."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Back in their new 'room', as well as wearing new clothes, which surprisingly didn't feel too weird, the boys examined the furniture that they had carried up. A task of which they completed in less than five seconds. They were currently deciding where to put everything, now that the carpet had been laid down.

"What about this desk of drawers? Mojo or the prison never had anything like this" Butch held a large item with his super strength.

"Put it there, opposite the bed" Brick instructed.

"What's this thing even used for?" Boomer was examining and smaller set of drawers whilst floating in mid air, occasionally flipping it over like it was some sort of cardboard box.

"It's for storing stuff, what d'ya think you numnuts" Butch said with a strained voice as he was lifting the desk of drawers still, trying to set it down.

"Butch, _you've_ only just found out what these are" Boomer countered.

"Now Butch, be nice to your brother" their mom told him, who was hanging their new clothes up in the wardrobe. Once she finished, she walked over and knelt down to Boomer's level. "Now, where do you think it should go sweetie?"

The ruff looked around. "There?" he pointed.

"A bit close to the desk of drawers isn't it?" Wendy smiled.

Boomer glanced round again. "What 'bout there?"

"Wouldn't that block the door?" she teasingly asked, before standing up and walking in front of the window. "Hm, where could you put it I wonder?"

"Ooh just there, beneath the window" Boomer flew over.

Wendy chuckled. "What a great idea honey" she ruffled his hair.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The four ate dinner like they usually did that night, like when the boys were still just visiting Wendy during the tests she performed on them. The boys had to admit, they could get use to this. It was far better than living in a cold drafty warehouse, not knowing whether they would have food in their stomachs tomorrow. Even Butch would have to say it was the best thing that had happened to them in a while.

For Brick, he felt felt for the first time since they were first created by Mojo, that there was a brighter future for him and his brothers. All those times back when they were still criminals back in Townsville, believing that there was no way to survive unless they stole and committed assault. During their sentence in the prison, wondering if they would even finish the sentence alive, and living in that warehouse, having to avoid the public and scavenging the streets for food, like some animal.

But to end up here, in a warm suburban house, with a room to call theirs and not a cell. With a meal everyday, and a change of clothes. But best of all, someone who would take care of them. A loving mother who actually _wanted_ to look after them. Could you believe that? Brick certainly didn't. Someone wanting to parent dangerous violent ex-criminals like them? Who wasn't an evil villain themselves, using them as pawns? He still couldn't believe Bubbles was so forgiving of them, let alone Wendy.

The boys helped her wash up, as she explained to them what chores were. "Now you have to remember boys, like all the other normal suburban children out there, they help their parents out by doing chores around the house, washing the dishes for example. Cleaning and dusting, taking out the trash."

"Taking out the trash? Like in a literal sense?" Boomer inquired.

"Wait hold on, I helped clean this house once, but no one told me this adoption thing involved labour" protested Butch. "And other children do this you say? I don't know much about being, 'a son', but is this what they do in exchange for their parents taking care of them?"

"Not quite Butch, although, some parents reward their children for doing such things, like with, money for example" Wendy enticed.

That caught Butch's ear. "They, _pay_ their kids? Like a salary?"

"You've heard of the concept of a salary but don't know what an allowance is?" Brick remarked.

Butch didn't pay attention to him. "Hmm, I suppose." Butch deep down was just as grateful as Brick or Boomer just to have a decent place to live and eat well, but he needed to save face somehow. "Show me the sink!"

Just at that moment, they heard a knock at the door, as well as a familiar voice. "Um, hello? It's me Bubbles, I didn't know if would be okay to visit you tonight or not."

"Hey it's Bubbs" Boomer flew over to open the door.

"Bubbles is here? What's the-" Wendy glanced at the clock. 9:00pm. "Goodness, I didn't realise it was that late."

Boomer pulled the powerpuff over, and she greeted them. "Hi boys, hi Mrs Innlost. Sorry for coming unannounced, I couldn't exactly phone you with everyone being around this time. It's just that you said I could still visit, and everyone in my house is asleep, so I flew over here, and, um,"

The scientist thought for a second, before answering finally "I guess you four could play for just, half an hour, but then it's off to bed i'm afraid. Children, even super ones, still need their sleep. And I wouldn't want your father or sisters waking up to find you're not there Bubbles."

"No it's okay, I made a 'dummy' Bubbles, which I put in the bed every night. Though, maybe I haven't been getting as much sleep as I ought to" the puff figured.

Brick knew why Wendy wanted them to go to bed early, as he had already deduced where he and his brothers would be attending tomorrow. "Well Bubbles, if you are not too busy on weekends, or just general afternoons, you could visit, providing you're not needed for a crime or a monster attack in progress in Townsville. We'll be here" the ruff leader proclaimed, and slightly turned his head up to see Wendy, approving of the idea.

"I, could do that" Bubbles put her hand to her chin. "When I'm not busy, I'll fly over and visit you, instead of always just being at night. I mean, I don't need to check on you that much now you're in good care" she laughed her normal cute laugh.

"Wanna play tag high up in the clouds?" asked Boomer. "Oh uh," he remembered and looked to his parent for permission,

And in turn the parent smiled "Only half an hour, okay?"

"Thanks Wendy! You're it Butch!" the blue boy jabbed his brother in the arm before flying out the door with his counterpart, both laughing.

"Play tag they say, make me it without warning me they do" Butch muttered to himself following them to join said game.

Wendy glanced down to see the 'eldest' brother still here. "Won't you be joining them Brick?"

"Not tonight, you said you need help with cleaning up dinner, don't you? I'll do this chore for free this time" the ruff answered.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It was 9:30pm, and the Powerpuff gave her farewells for now and proceeded on her flight home. And it was agreed that instead of visiting them every night, she would excuse herself from her house and her sisters, whenever they were busy with something and Bubbles herself was free, and fly over to Founders to see her 'new friends'.

The boys, dressed in shirt like pajamas, each in their respective colours, occupied a part of the bed which blanket had three stripes in red, blue and green, settled down and curiously begun to feel the bed they were sitting in.

Their mother sat on the side of the bed having just gone through the hassle of making Butch and clean his teeth, something she told them they had to do every night and morning. She looked down at her sons. "What's the matter, you boys are acting like you've never slept in a comfortable bed before" she chuckled. They just looked at her with blank expressions. "Oh, um, well how I think this works is I tuck you in, like this."

The woman pulled the blanket over the boys as they lead down and were each surprised at how soft the pillows felt. Bed duvets were far different in feeling to newspaper and cardboard. "Wendy, do we always have to go to bed early?" Boomer asked in a soft but somewhat cute tone.

"On school nights like this, we have to I imagine" Brick answered for her.

"School?" both Boomer and Butch said in usion.

Wendy, not even surprised that Brick figured it out, gave an encouraging smile. "Yes, I was just about to explain to you. Tomorrow will be the first day of elementary school for the three of you. You'll be attending 24th street school, the closest one to here."

"And we're accepted?" Brick asked with a skeptical tone.

"It, did take a great deal of convincing over the phone. Not to mention, the police pulling a few strings" she said that last part under a cough. "But yes, I'll drive you there early tomorrow morning, and before you ask, I have all your supplies prepared. You'll go there to learn, and who knows, meet some new friends maybe?"

Butch huffed. "That'll be a laugh" he muttered. He noticed that not even she had a hopeful face, but put on one anyway for them.

"I'm going in to meet your teacher first. Hopefully they'll be understanding."

"Well they're in for a surprise" Butch commented again.

"Now get some rest you three. You don't want a light left on or anything?" the mother put her hand on the bedside light.

"Uh, no we're good" Brick pulled the blanket tighter around him.

"How about a hot drink just to help you fall asleep now or-"

"No thanks Wendy" Boomer yawned laying down.

"Oh, okay. Well, goodnight then." She paused as to think of what to say. "Sweet dreams." She switched off the light and leaned down to kiss each of them on the forehead. Walking out the room, she looked back one more time to see they were falling into a slumber already. Sinking into the bed's comfort. She sighed and smiled at the sight.

Closing the bedroom door, she ran a hand through her curly orange hair, remembering what her father and mother used to do when she was a little girl at her bedtime. So day one of being a parent. Even though she felt slightly tired, that image of the boys sound asleep tucked up in bed made it all worth it.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The next morning, with backpacks on their backs, the Rowdyruff boys were sat in the backseat of Wendy's car, all strangely quiet. It was quite early, which they didn't mind since they had such a great sleep last night. But by their stillness and silence, you could sense the nervousness emitting from them.

Though you couldn't blame them, this would be their first major interaction with the public of Founders, that would be on civilised terms. With children their age too. To be honest, they might as well be thrown into a lion enclosure.

Stopping outside a building with a lot of windows and about two floors, with a main door at the front and American flag raised outside, Wendy let the boys out the car and noticed their worried silent expressions. She tried her best to assure them. "We're a bit early, none of the other children are here yet. How about we meet your teacher then, hm?" she reassuringly encouraged them.

Nodding, the boys followed her to the school's reception desk. The woman at the desk put down her papers upon hearing someone walk in, and looked up to greet them. "Hello how can I-, oh!" she saw the boys.

The ruffs and Wendy had expected this reaction. "Hello, these are my sons, here to be enrolled today."

"Um, yes, Innlost isn't it?" the woman kept glancing between the boys and Wendy. "I'll just, get the principal for you" she stood up from her chair.

"Can't you just phone him from here?" Wendy inquired.

"No no, it's best if I fetch him" she answered quite quickly.

Watching her hurry away, Boomer asked "Wendy, is she-"

"Oh she's just, surprised to see you is all" Wendy interrupted putting her hand on his shoulder.

This was definitely a foreign setting to the boys. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it would be just like the prison? Though that would be a bit extreme. This place smelt funny and the lighting was depressing. They overheard so many tales from other kids and most of them negative.

The woman came back with a middle aged man in a suit, wearing glasses and put on a professional face. "Mrs Innlost is it?" he gulped quietly upon seeing the Rowdyruffs behind her.

"Yes, hello sir, we spoke on the phone. My boys are to be enrolled?" she shook his hand.

"Of, course. Your boys, um,"

"Brick Boomer and Butch" Wendy reminded.

"Yes, those three. If, you'd like to come to my office" he lead them there, and after the paperwork he showed them their classroom. "Now you're teacher for this year will be Mr Scott. I'll just go in and, inform him."

After he walked in, Boomer looked at the number above the door. "So this is where we'll be, learning? As kids apparently do here."

"Wonder how'll our teacher will take the news of 'us'." Butch was not keen at all on going to school. And it took a good deal this morning for Brick to persuade him to go. That, and Butch was really just wanting to make it easier for Wendy. She gave them a comfy bed after all didn't she?

The principal stepped out. "If, you just want to go in" he opened the door for them before heading back to his office.

"Well, c'mon boys" Wendy lead them in. "I'm sure your teacher will be fine and, Alfie? Is that you?" she saw who the teacher was. He was a young man in his twenties who took a few seconds to recognise the woman but eventually did so.

"Wait, Wendy? Wendy Innlost it is you" he walked over and shook her hand, surprise in his tone of voice. "I haven't seen you since high school back in Townsville."

"Nor you. And you've finally become a teacher, just like you always wanted, why didn't you say you were in Founders?" She then turned to her sons. "Boys this is an old friend of mine from back in Townsville, Alfie Scott, though I suppose you'll be calling him _Mr_ Scott now."

"Well, out of all the kids to have in my class" Mr Scott turned to the boys. "I thought the principal was joking with me when he told me the Rowdyruff boys themselves were attending this school. So Wendy's your mother?" he went to greet them, holding out his hand.

Brick hesitated before shaking his hand. "Adoptive mother yes."

Mr Scott chuckled. "I figured. Do remind me of your names again."

"Brick." "Boomer." "Butch."

"That's it, well Brick Boomer and Butch, well done on the riots the other night" he complimented. "Class starts in half an hour so if you boys want to sit at a table anywhere go ahead. Your mother will be here at 3pm to pick you up."

Slightly taken aback by this teacher's plain acceptance of them, the boys nodded and Brick and Butch floated to a table at the back. Boomer faced the two adults again. "So uh, we just sit here and learn from you?"

"That, and lunch and recess of course. I think you'll quite like it" assured Mr Scott.

"And, we'll be alright won't we?" Boomer asked his mother.

"You'll be fine honey. Just be a good boy, listen to Alfi-, I mean, Mr Scott. And he'll show you what to do" she hugged the boy and Mr Scott showed her out.

"Bye now boys, bye" she waved. "They will be alright won't they Alfie?" she whispered.

"They'll be fine Wendy. And I'm sure they'll be good."

"That's not what I'm worried about" she said in a hushed tone, before once again saying goodbye to the boys as the class door closed.

Boomer joined his brothers. "So, what happens first exactly?" questioned Butch.

Mr Scott organized a few things on his desk. "Well when first class begins, you basically listen to what I say and complete any activities I hand out. And then recess. It's not all boring y'know" he smiled.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The bell rung that morning and the kids started to walk into the classroom, talking amongst themselves as they walked through the door. However they stopped and some of them gasped when they saw the three super children sat at the back of the class, which caused the three boys to turn their heads down, feeling slightly self conscious.

Mr Scott cleared his throat. "Good morning class. As you can see, we have three new students today."

 **So the boys have started to hopefully begin, a normal life, though we all know it won't be. They'll be involved in crime fighting soon. I wanted this part of the story to mirror but not copy the Powerpuff girls movie, when they were first created. Like their own version of it in a way. And it might seem that Wendy is already a perfect parent, though as the boys get more involved in fighting crime, it will get more challenging.**

 **Thanks for all the follows and favs, and Ekka189 and RedHood001 for reviewing.**

 **Rowdyruff boys and Powerpuff girls belong to CN.**


	17. School days

The children looked to their teacher and then to the boys. Almost frozen completely until one of the kids spoke up. "The, the Rowdyruff boys?"

"Yes they are. And I know what you're all thinking. They've been adopted by a parent and have been deemed safe enough to go to school" Mr Scott explained.

"They have?" questioned another student with a surprised tone.

"Yes. In fact I've just had a pleasant talk with them earlier this morning and their mother, and well, I'm still here aren't I? They're perfectly fine, now if you would take your seats" he ushered, and reluctantly, the children took their seats.

There were sounds of tables and chairs scooching away from the table the boys were sat at. The three ruffs just stayed silent, just looking around at the other children.

"Okay then class, first off is maths. Now I have these worksheets which I'll hand out, and I'll show you on the board how to do these sums" Mr Scott announced.

It was five minutes into the lesson, and Boomer and Butch could see why most kids found this sort of thing boring. Though they were more concerned about the other kids occasionally glancing at them from their tables.

Even Brick felt slightly anxious at the other opinions of the children. He decided to get his mind off it somehow by focusing on what Mr Scott was saying, even though he had read about this all before in books in the offshore prison library. When handed the worksheets, which turned out to be simple sums, he wrote the answers in like it was some inconvenience he had to get out the way.

Brick had often heard from other children that school could be difficult, academically wise anyway. But these worksheets were easy, all the maths problems that were presented or that were written on the interactive whiteboard, he worked them out almost instantly. He would've put his hand up to solve the problem when Mr Scott asked, but he preferred not to draw any more attention to himself than there was to him and his brothers already.

The bell rang and the other kids got up, grabbed their things and headed out the classroom. "Wait, what happens now?" wondered Boomer.

"This is recess Boomer. The kids go out for a break in the playground, come back for another lesson, have lunch and go out again, then one final lesson, that's usually the way it works" Mr Scott joked.

"So, we've gotta go out there?" Butch eyed the playground outside the window.

"Yeah you-, uh, yes you will go out there and have fun like the other kids, just, try to make as many friends as possible, and be nice to them. If there's any trouble, inform one of the teachers okay" Mr Scott explained, encouraging them to go.

Although a bit reluctant, the ruffs floated up and headed outside the classroom into the corridor. "'If there's any trouble inform one of the teachers', in other words, snitch" Butch scoffed. "They would've murdered us in the prison if we did that!"

"This is an elementary school with children our age, it's not quite the same here Butch" reminded Brick.

"The first lesson was kinda boring, but I'd much prefer that to menial activities we were forced to do in prison" Boomer commented.

"Well let's just try to get along with the others. Just, try to find something to occupy yourselves, like we did in the prison courtyard" Brick sighed.

"I have a feeling of deja vu coming on" Butch complained.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The other children on the playground pretty much had the same reaction to the kids in the boys classroom when they saw them. Some of them had heard from said kids that the Rowdyruffs themselves were here, though most didn't believe it until the boys floated out.

Boomer and Butch heeded Brick's advice, and split up to find something to occupy themselves. Both floated around the playground, the other children turning away as soon as one of the boys came close. The brothers didn't have much hope.

Butch did eye a ball on some sort of tether on a pole, which three other kids were hitting around. Floating over, he made an effort to greet them. "Uh, hey there" he gave a small wave with his hand. "Um, so what's this game then? Do you just hit the ball around?"

The three children had visible fear on their faces and weren't sure how to respond. "Look, i-if you want this just, take it" the kids backed off leaving the ruff.

"No you don't have to- ugh" Butch groaned. Back in the day he used to love gaining this type of respect, but now it just felt, alienating. He left the tether ball, knowing it would look like as if he had just threatened those kids if he played with it.

Boomer wasn't having much luck either. Spotting a group of children drawing with chalk on the floor, something that he enjoyed doing, he wondered if he could join. Summoning up his voice he said "Hello. Uh, you're drawing with chalk, could I draw with you?" He sounded polite and genuine.

Since the children knew the blue ruff used to be the least violent of the ruff trio they were more confident talking to him. "A Rowdyruff, drawing with us? No thanks" dismissed one boy.

"Yeah you're too dangerous. Go away" said a girl.

"But I only want to draw, honest!" Boomer tried to persuade, but the kids were having none of it. He was turned away from not just them, but every other group of kids he tried to talk to.

Brick was just as clueless as his brothers on how to socially interact with other children. He was so used to avoiding people and reading in the prison library instead, that he had no idea what to say. So he just floated down by a tree and sat under it, thinking, until the bell rang to go inside. Floating together, he turned to Boomer and Butch.

"Any luck?"

They sighed. "No."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It was lunch time, and the trio already knew the routine of collecting your food on trays and finding a place to sit. And of course, they were sat on their own. "Well I'm certainly enjoying the great experience of learning and receiving an education as all little kids should" Butch sarcastically moaned slumping down, putting his chin in his folded arms.

Sighing, Boomer shook his head. "Oh it's no good Brick. Everyone's too afraid of us. I mean look at them" he pointed behind. "They're standing up eating their lunch because they don't want to sit with us."

Brick turned and saw the other kids too. This was no way for the ruffs to start their school life. Sighing, he spoke to the kids behind them. "Hey, uh, you can sit down on our table if you want?"

The kids looked at them suspiciously. "With, you?"

"I promise, we're not going to hurt you or anything. If we were they wouldn't have let us into this school" Brick tried to explain in his most convincing tone.

"I, dunno, you three use to be criminals-"

"Look, we're harmless alright, will you stop being so scared of us!" Butch interrupted turning around, startling one of the kids, causing him to throw his tray up into the air and hit another at a table.

Angry, the kid that was hit turned to another behind him, whom he normally got into fights with. Accusing him of hitting him, he threw a piece of his lunch at him. But the kid retaliated, and threw back. This chain reaction caused a food fight in the cafeteria to break out, and pretty much every kid was throwing their lunches at the other. The three Rowdyruffs took cover.

"Nice going Butch, another fight in a cafeteria started by us" Brick scorned.

"It wasn't intentional" Butch defended.

"Are they going to dislike us even more now?" Boomer wondered, with an unsure voice.

"Don't worry Boomer, it'll be fine in the end" Brick tried to assure.

It wasn't long until the teachers finally got control of the kids and the fight stopped. The principal was called into the cafeteria of course and demanded who started it. The students all argued at once, trying to point to the first kid who was hit with the tray, or trying to guess who threw it at him.

It wasn't until Brick floated up and made everyone stare at in him in surprise when he said "Actually sir, I started this."

Butch and Boomer, not being able to watch their offer himself up like this, spoke up too. "And us, sir" they both said.

The principal didn't look surprised but did seem as if there was some hesitation to speak to the three ruffs. "Well, in that case, you three are going to have to clean this up. The rest of you clean yourselves up and head out for recess."

The principal was surprised however when the three boys, within 10 seconds, cleaned up the cafeteria perfectly with the mops and bucket, leaving it spotless. "All done sir."

"Um, yes, indeed. But you three realise that this doesn't mean you can start fights like this every lunch time. I'll have to tell your mother about this when she picks you up." He walked out the room.

"Oh great, Wendy's not gonna like this" said Butch.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It was finally time to go home. The students in Mr Scott's class walked out muttering amongst themselves. "I knew those three couldn't be trusted."

"They shouldn't be in a school like this."

"Pretty cool how they took the heat for everyone in that food fight though."

Staying behind, as their mother had to talk to the principal, each ruff sat in their seat not really saying anything, just looking at the table with disappointed expressions. Their new teacher couldn't help but notice. "I heard about what happened. Though I hear, from what the other children have said, that it wasn't really your fault?"

Brick explained what happened and the three boys floated out of their seats and towards the window closest to Mr Scott's desk, recognising their mother's car parked outside.

"Yeah, first day's always the worst, and not just for students" Mr Scott stood up from his chair with a mug in his hand, walking over to the boys side by the window. "You get that feeling that coming here was a big mistake, that maybe you should just not come back the next morning."

"And?" Boomer wanted him to continue.

"And I'm still here aren't I?" Mr Scott grinned, taking a sip from his mug. "They'll warm up to ya, just gotta find the few kids that are willing to talk to you."

"And how we supposed to do that?" Butch questioned.

"Perseverance" was all Mr Scott said to him.

"Is that what you did?" asked Boomer.

"Of course. You see Boomer," Mr Scott sat down on his desk with a more serious look on his face. "A lot of parents, well, how do I put this? They tend to, get wary, of people like me, working in a elementary school with young children. And you've just gotta show 'em how good you are."

"What d'you mean, people like you?" the blue ruff tilted his head.

Mr Scott paused. "Well, the classroom next door, who teaches that?"

"Mrs Jones."

"And the classroom next to that?"

"Miss Williams."

"And the one next to that?"

"Miss Layman."

"And who teaches this class?"

"You do sir" Boomer answered, though he still didn't quite get it.

"And like I said Boomer, just prove yourselves" he ruffled the blonde's hair. Just then they heard a knock at the door, and turned to see Wendy walking in.

"Wendy!" Butch and Boomer both said usion. Brick just stayed silent.

"Hello boys." She turned to the teacher "Thanks Alfie. How were they?"

"In my class, they were great. I haven't given the marked worksheets back to the students yet, but I can say Brick here scored the highest" he informed.

The scientist formed a smile. "Glad to hear. I'd better take them home now, thanks again."

"Looking forward to teaching them again. Bye boys."

While Boomer and Butch followed Wendy out, Brick turned to Mr Scott just before leaving. "I saw the test scores up on the wall for the past few weeks. Well done on your class scoring the highest."

"Prove 'em wrong Brick, prove 'em wrong."

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

"So, what did the principal say Wendy?" Boomer asked floating alongside her in the corridor.

"Just what you told him really. Though I have a feeling not all of it is true?" she responded.

Butch explained to her what happened.

"I knew it was unlikely for you to start something like this on your first day. And Butch," she stopped walking and knelt down to his level. "I know it must be frustrating that the other kids avoid you like the plague, and still treat you three like criminals, but snapping at them isn't going to help. You gotta be patient sweetie. Just try okay?"

"Okay" the green ruff quietly said.

"Good boy" Wendy smiled at him and stood up. "Now, let's get you boys home, there's a surprise waiting for you."

When they finally got home and headed up to their room, both Boomer and Butch's large eyes lit up at a video game system in front of their TV which was brand new. Along with a few games. "Just thought you could use some entertainment" figured their mother.

"Thanks Wendy!" both zoomed towards it, instantly setting the system up. Meanwhile Brick had picked up a newspaper, reading the latest crime statistics in Founders city.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The second day, as expected, didn't change things overnight. The boys were still sat on their own, with hardly any other kid talking to them. Something Mr Scott took a mental note of.

Brick breezed through the work given to them, leaving himself with nothing to do until recess. Of course he didn't actually go outside during recess, preferring, like he did in the prison, to stay in the library, sitting there reading or on the computer. Always making sure he was by a window to keep an eye on his siblings.

Outside Boomer and Butch's situation had not improved since yesterday. Butch was right about deja vu in more than one way. The toughest ruff decided to kick a few leaves around the tree. Hands in pockets, looking down at the floor.

And wherever Boomer floated, the kids of the playground repelled from him like magnets. The blonde ruff sighed, practically giving up on being accepted anytime soon. Until he heard something with his super hearing.

" _What's wrong with these clothes? I think they're fine" a girl's voice said._

" _They're tacky, and ragged" said another more stuck up girl's voice._

" _They're not ragged" pointed out a boy's voice, before the sound of a tear was heard and the girl gasping._

" _Why d'ya do that?" the boy's voice demanded._

Boomer followed the voice out of curiosity, to the other side of the playground, and set eyes upon a group of girls in front of two boy and girl twins. The girl of which, had a torn jacket. Boomer had always been told by Brick to not interfere with issues, not matter how big or small. But even Brick went back on that and Boomer had disobeyed it before. Besides, the upset girl reminded him of Bubbles when Octi was torn.

Not knowing what to say, he just came out with "Hey, you girls!"

The group of girls turned their heads and were startled to see a Rowdyruff floating towards them.

"A Rowdyruff?"

"What does he want?"

They all seemed afraid.

"I just want you to leave these two kids here" Boomer demanded, trying to put on the most intimidating tone as he could. As even when he was a criminal, he still had difficulty looking threatening.

"What? We weren't doing anything, uh, right girls? Let's just go" the leader girl, trying to hide her fear, ushered the group away.

Boomer looked back to the twin boy and girl, and seeing their surprised faces, he realised that maybe he should just go. He turned but he then heard the boy's voice call to him. "Hey uh, thanks?"

Confused, the ruff just stared before replying "Uh, your welcome. Just thought I should do something." He eyed the girls jacket. "I'm sorry about your jacket. I don't think it's tacky like those girls said."

"How'd you hear that?" the girl wondered.

"Super hearing" Boomer tapped the side of his head where an ear would've been.

"Oh. Well, thank you, uh, Boomer. And it's okay, really."

"Hm, y'know I could sow that back up for ya. I sowed a toy back up for a friend once and it was perfect" he offered.

"You have friends?" the boy wondered, then he instantly regretted it. "I mean, it's just that, we don't see you with-"

"I know what you mean. And I'm just as surprised. Look, I'll just leave if you want?" the ruff turned again.

Getting the feeling that this boy genuinely wasn't like how everyone portrayed him, the twins called out "Wait!" The ruff stopped once more to look a them. "I'm Matt, and this is my sister Rebecca" the boy introduced.

"You know how to sow?" asked Rebecca.

"I wonder if we can find a thread and a needle?" Boomer looked around with a determined expression.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Butch, still kicking around leaves, not frustrated, but more or less just fed up, wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. So much so that he didn't see or hear the soccer ball narrowly miss him and hit the tree instead. Turning to the direction it came from, he saw a group of kids by a goal post looking in his direction, and as usual, they were all hesitant to go and get it.

"It's by him, that Rowdyruff."

"Well I'm not getting it."

"He might-" they all whispered amongst themselves.

Butch rolled his eyes. "Oh just take it." He kicked it so far and hard that it flew straight past the kids and goalie and into the back of the net. Scoffing and throwing his arms up into the air, the ruff floated off to another part of the playground, leaving the other kids amazed at a shot like that.

Even with superpowers, the trajectory of that shot was remarkable.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Walking back to class, with an old needle in his hand, Boomer floated alongside Matt and a cheerful Rebecca, in awe of how perfectly her jacket was sown up. "It's like it's brand new! Thank ever so much Boomer!" she gave him a quick hug.

"Heh, well, it's not the first time" he laughed.

"You're nothing at all like what the news reports say about you" admitted Matt.

Later that day, to Boomer's, but mainly Brick's and Butch's amazement, Matt and Rebecca actually asked if they could sit with the three boys. The red and green ruff looked to their brother.

"I helped them earlier" was the only explanation he gave.

On the way home in the backseat of Wendy's car, the parent asked them about their day. "How was it boys?"

"About the same" Brick shrugged.

"Miserable, still" Butch muttered.

"Eh, it wasn't all bad" Boomer figured.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The city of Townsville.

The Powerpuff girls had just come home from school, floating through the front door.

"All I'm saying is, I didn't know there was a pond there" Buttercup defended.

"Yeah ok, whatever Buttercup" replied Blossom rinsing out her bow before tying it back on.

"Need help with that professor?" Bubbles asked the Professor, who was carrying a bunch of shopping bags inside.

"No no Bubbles I can- whoa!" he was about to drop it all but thankfully Bubbles caught and carried all of it to the kitchen.

"Oh, thanks dear" the Professor called out.

Floating into the living room, Blossom and Buttercup sat themselves down in front of the TV, taking off their school bags and grabbing the remote.

"I'm just as tired as you are anyway from gym class Bloss. Could we just rest until the phone rings for a crime or something? It's bound to anyway." Buttercup switched on the TV before lying down on her back.

"Alright. I want to see if anymore science facilities are robbed anyway. We always just miss those for some reason" Blossom commented before turning to the TV with a news report coming on.

"Ugh, can't we watch something else?" complained Buttercup.

"I want to see if that report about Townsville history comes on" dismissed Blossom.

Bubbles was in a cheerful mood as always, having gotten some good grades back. She put away the groceries humming to herself.

The news reporter was speaking as Blossom and Buttercup continued. "We learn about that all the time in school, give me the remote."

" _In other news the police force in the city of Founders have locked away the suspects in the recent riot, ready for trial."_

"They don't tell you everything in school Buttercup."

" _There are still conflicted feelings however in the FDPD and the citizens of Founders.."_

"What's there to know that we don't already?"

" _...Of the release and apparent bail of our own Townsville's notorious Rowdyruff boys, who took part in the riot."_

"There's a lot-, wait, _Rowdyruff boys_?" Blossom and Buttercup, with questionable looks, turned to the TV.

Bubbles, still putting away the groceries, stopped in her tracks when she heard Buttercup say "The Rowdyruff boys are in Founders city?"

Bubbles dropped the shopping bag. "Oh no" she whispered, zooming out of the kitchen to see the news report on TV. Her sisters watching it.

" _The boys have been put into the custody of someone, whom we don't know the identity, as the police have found no apparent evidence of them committing any crime. We have Townsville's crime correspondent here, as the Founder's one is unavailable, to give us some insight."_

Bubbles watched the screen, slightly frustrated, as all the correspondent was doing was making blind accusations and guesses about the boys, which she knew personally were all false. She however was more concerned about her sisters right now.

"I knew they couldn't stay out of trouble for long" proclaimed Buttercup.

"But why move to Founders city?" Blossom had a 'thinking' look on her face.

"Probably too scared to face us again most likely" Buttercup mocked.

"That, or maybe it's to do with a lack of competition from other 'super villains'. As crime ridden as I've heard Founders is, there aren't really any 'super' criminals like we have here" Blossom hypothesized. "Though you could be right in a way Buttercup, maybe they are trying to avoid us."

"Uh, hang on a sec girls, it didn't say whether the boys actually committed any crimes or not" Bubbles reasoned, trying not to reveal anything about herself.

"C'mon Bubbs, a riot of which they just happened to be in. In a city which attracts a lot of scum like that, apparently" Buttercup argued.

Bubbles badly wanted to tell them that the boys were actually saving lives and apprehending rioters. That she was the one who convinced them in the first place to get involved in that. But she couldn't reveal anything. What would their reaction be if she came out and told them she'd been secretly meeting with them for over several weeks now?

"We can't be sure what they're doing. But we know from experience how dangerous they can be. And although Townsville is the city we protect, we can't let another city suffer or become endangered because of them" Blossom said determinedly, causing Bubbles to become even more worried and unsure.

 **Hey everyone. This chapter is where the boys get their first impression of what school is like, and how they would interact with other students their age, which I thought would be interesting since it's something they're not use to. Sorry if this chapter was a little boring, not much action in this one.**

 **However the girls, or at least Blossom and Buttercup, have finally found out the boys location. Obviously they're not going to just go charging in, as they don't whether it's true that they're committing crimes or not, but they'll probably try something to apprehend the boys at some point. Anyway, thanks for reading.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	18. First night as heroes

Chief Mccoy got out his car that friday afternoon, clearly frustrated about something, due to the look on his face. He had just come from the mayor's office, and he was not pleased with what the meeting was about.

But anyway, he started walking up to his daughter's house, as part of the agreement of Wendy adopting the boys was that he would visit and check on them every week. He didn't mind this, as he loved seeing his 'little girl' whenever he got the chance to. He was actually starting to like this little arrangement more and more. Not just because he got to see Wendy, but because of, to his surprise, the effect the boys were starting to have on her. He hadn't seen her this happy in a while.

The door opened and his daughter greeted him. "Hello dad" she hugged him.

"Hello dear. Everything going alright?"

"Oh it's going perfectly dad" she let him and offered him a seat on the couch. "The boys are behaving so well. Okay there are some things, mainly with Boomer and Butch, that I have to discipline them on, but no more than the average parent has to." She walked into the kitchen to get him a drink.

Mccoy cocked his head. "Yes, you certainly had your moments."

The boys then floated down the stairs, with Boomer teasing Butch about something. Brick just followed behind, an emotionless expression on his face.

"C'mon Butch, I'm sure you'll be amazing" Boomer teased in a mocking tone.

"The game's stupid! What's so fun about kicking a ball around?" Butch rebutted, clearly annoyed.

The three noticed the chief sat on the sofa. "Hey chief!" waved Boomer.

"Coming to check on us again? It's like we're under house arrest or something" Butch muttered floating into another room.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Mccoy.

"Oh he's only been angry once, it's just that it's lasted since he was born" joked Boomer.

"Our teacher phoned Wendy and suggested that Butch join the school's boys soccer team, said that it would help him socialize with other students" Brick explained.

"I can see where Mr Scott's coming from, I heard Butch scored an unintentional goal from several yards away the other day. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to rub it in some more." the blue ruff zoomed off just as Wendy was coming out the kitchen.

"Boomer be nice" she said as she passed him. "Like I said dad, no more than any other parent can handle" Wendy repeated giving the chief a cup of coffee. The sound of heat vision being fired was then heard from outside. "Looks like they're fighting again" she sighed. "I suppose I'll leave you dad to get, properly, acquainted with your new 'grandson'."

When she left, Chief Mccoy attempted to make conversation with the ruff leader. "So uh Brick, it's nice to finally have a proper one on one with you. Sorry again about you and your brothers getting tranquilised. If it helps I didn't order that."

Brick sighed floating down to sit on the sofa "It wasn't the first time chief. And I can see, that you've just been ordered something yourself. Something you're not too pleased about it seems."

"What?" Mccoy raised an eyebrow. "How did you know-?"

"I saw you from the window. You came out your car with a very unhappy expression on your face. And you were muttering to yourself about the mayor or something." Brick tapped the side of his head. "Super hearing."

"Hm, I'm quite amazed you deduced that" Mccoy slumped back in the sofa.

"I was at the mayor's office just before I came here. There was a body, found in a creek in a woodland area of the city. We brought it back to the forensics and they identified the body to be a former informant we used to put undercover in the mob." He took a sip of his coffee and looked down at the floor. "He was strangled to death. And we believe the mob's involvement, obviously."

"No DNA found?" inquired Brick.

"The attacker must've been wearing gloves" Mccoy replied "and we were called to the mayor's office, where she told us to stand down on the case."

He sighed "Typical. Everyone knows by now that the mayor's on that crime boss's Sofia Folla's payroll, but every time someone tries to expose her, there's no evidence to be found" the chief sounded just as annoyed as his daughter when she complained about the mayor.

Brick looked away for a few seconds, then asked the chief a question which Mccoy didn't expect the Rowdyruff to even care about. "The victim, did he, have any family?"

Slightly taken aback, the chief answered "Yeah, yeah he did, sadly. Two kids, poor things. Explaining his death to his wife wasn't pleasant." There was a silence. Brick had a look of empathy on his face, and also appeared to be thinking.

"Anyway" Chief Mccoy stood up. "I'd better go, and Brick," the ruff looked up at him.

"I know these visits must make you feel like you're still criminals, like your green brother said, but I know, now at least, that you're better than that" he told the ruff.

"I mean, I suppose you know by now that Wendy, your mother, used to be married, to a young handsome scientist. Mark was his name. Oh boy did she love him. So when he died three years ago, she hardly left this house. Only leaving for groceries and things like that. Her mother and I hardly ever saw her, preferring to do her work from within that lab of hers. In recent months she's gotten better, but now she has you three."

Carl Mccoy looked back at his grandson. "And she's just as delightful and happy as she used to be when Mark was alive. I have my little girl back, thanks to you and your brothers." The Chief shouted a goodbye to his daughter, who was still in the other room, before closing the front door to the house.

"See you later dad" Wendy came out the other room with Boomer and Butch by her side. She turned to the two and had her arms folded. "Now if you can't get along you two then I suggest spending some time away from each other. Boomer you go up to your room. Butch, go out to the garden and practice kicking the ball I bought for you."

"Aw but Wendy, I hate playing dumb team sports like that!" Butch protested. "In the prison, whenever I won a game I was still beaten, physically." He said that last part quietly.

"I know honey, but this is an elementary school, far different from prison, I promise. Plus it will help you socialize with the other children, and if you don't like it after a couple of weeks, I'll let you quit, okay?" the scientist reasoned.

"Fine" the toughest ruff sighed, the caring look on Wendy's face didn't make him argue further, and he floated off, as Boomer did too up to his room.

The scientist took a seat in the armchair after dealing with the two boys. "You think that was too strict?" she didn't even know why she was asking Brick that. She was supposed to be parenting him.

"Strict? You only sent them to separate areas" pointed out the red ruff.

"I know I know, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right is all" she sighed. "I never thought I'd be doing it on my own." There was a pause, then she took a more uplifting tone. "So, what were you and dad discussing?"

Brick then explained to her the body that was found by the police. The victim that was a former undercover informant for the FDPD, Founders police department. How he had two children, and the mayor told them to stand down on the case.

"Oh typical, I never liked that mayor" Wendy scorned.

After another pause, and some thinking, Brick then asked his mother about something big he was considering. "Wendy" he begun. "The police are not allowed to work on this, but what if, let's say, an outside force investigated and brought the criminal to justice? A force like, myself Boomer and Butch?"

Wendy looked to her son "You three? You mean taking the law into your own hands?"

"Not like vigilantes or anything but, synonymous to what the girls do in Townsville" suggested the ruff leader.

"Brick we're not talking about cartoony villains or cliche monster attacks, it's gangsters, drug dealers, and all sorts of homicidal maniacs you'll be dealing with" warned his mother.

"I know, but that man who was killed had family." Flashes of a bloodied and beaten Boomer and Butch in the prison infirmary went through the ruff's head. "And so do many others in this city, because of its crime rate. And the city's government isn't doing enough about it, or hardly anything." He floated off the sofa. "Wendy, what would Mark have said about this?"

Surprised that Brick had said this, his mother went to reply but stopped herself, and looked down at the floor for a few seconds. Without looking back up, she admitted "He, he would've encouraged you."

Brick smiled warmly, as Wendy looked back up at him. "Okay Brick, but I'm not letting you or your brothers do this without some protection. Follow me to the lab."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Later that evening, all three Rowdyruffs were down in the science lab with Wendy, who had prepared a few things for her children.

"So, we're going to solve a crime. We're actually going to fight criminals? Like Bubbles and her sisters?" Boomer looked at his older red brother. Both 'younger' brothers received an explanation earlier from Brick about what they would be doing that night.

"So much for 'staying neutral'" commented Butch.

A few minutes ago, Wendy asked the boys to change their clothes into ones she gave them.

"But Wendy, these look exactly the same as our typical outfits" Boomer pointed out.

"These shirts and trousers are different from your usual ones Boomer" explained the scientist. "You see, inbetween the lining of the fabric is a thin layer of flexible armour to protect you."

"Wendy you of all people should know that things like bullets or knives can't penetrate our skin" reminded Butch.

"I know Butch, but this is actually to protect you boys against duranium bullets or blades, or any other metal or substance that could harm you. Now you have the schematics for the FDPD morgue, that's where you'll find the body, and Brick, I've built into your hat something you'll need to scan it. It's the same software you used to track down my father, chief Mccoy, when he was captured by the mob" she explained to them.

"Thanks Wendy, now then boys, let's head to the police building, and see if we can do something about this murder" Brick ushered, flying to the window, his brothers following behind.

Before they could leave however, Wendy called out "Wait boys!" They turned around. "Just, be careful."

Brick nodded. "We'll be fine" he smiled reassuringly and proceeded to fly out with Boomer and Butch. The scientist woman sighed, hoping she was doing the right thing.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

In the FDPD building, Brick lead his brothers through the ventilation shafts, sneaking through as quietly as they could, until they reached the vent leading into the morgue. They flew out, and were the only three in the room.

"There's one camera in the room, but it's facing the door so don't worry" Butch noticed.

Brick got onto the comm in placed in his ear. "Wendy we're at the morgue. You said you installed software into my hat?"

" _Yes, press a button on the right side of your belt"_ Wendy instructed.

Brick did so, and the bill of his hat spun around so it was at the front, and a small red transparent screen with figures and numbers on it dropped down in front of his eyes.

" _Just like what was in that phone when you rescued my father."_

Brick looked around at the body containers on the wall through the screen before pointing at one. "That one."

Butch and Boomer pulled out the slab and unzipped the body bag. "Jeez, it's kinda unnerving looking actually staring a body in the face" the tough ruff admitted.

"I don't wanna look" Boomer turned away.

Brick floated up and looked over the body through the red screen in front of his eyes. "Mccoy said the victim was strangled to death. This is evident by the marks on his neck. And he was right about the attacker wearing gloves, there's not a trace of DNA on the victim's neck."

The Rowdyruff glanced up at the victim's head. "But hang on, there's a small strand of hair on the victim's head that isn't his." He scanned the hair. "And it belongs to, Joe Briggs."

"That assassin you tried to capture that one time?" Butch remembered his brother telling him about that.

Brick then noticed some particles on the victim's shoulder through the red screen. "These don't seem to have originated from the victim, they must've rubbed off from the attacker during the struggle. Particles usually found on a barge ship."

Brick got on the comm. "Wendy, hack into the CCTV cameras around the docks, and playback within the last 24 hours."

She did so and brought up several split screens on her computer, rewinding and scanning through them. "Hm, there are number of barges here on the docks, and a different number of people heading on and off of them. But wait, here's a barge that's unaccounted for. I'm sending you the footage."

Brick viewed the footage on the screen in front of his eyes. "Nothing so far-, wait there!" The screen zoomed in. "That's him, Joe Briggs, it matches his profile. He boarded that ship and he's still there. Boomer, Butch, follow me." The red screen went back up and the bill of Brick's hat spun back around.

"Guess we're really doing this" Boomer shrugged at Butch before tailing after their leader through the vent.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The boys floated towards the Barge at the Founders docks, hiding behind some ship crates. Using their x-ray vision they scanned over the boat, a plan forming in Brick's head.

"Okay, Briggs is in a room on the right side of the ship. We don't want to alert everyone on it, so Butch, you sneak in through the window into the corridor outside the room he's in, and take out any mobsters _silently,_ just like that way you taught me."

Butch nodded. Brick turned to the other ruff. "Boomer you come with me."

Fying over to the wall on the outside of the room where Briggs was talking with some other mobsters, Brick and Boomer zapped a hole in the wall with their heat vision, pulling it out, surprising the people inside as they all stumbled back.

"What the hell!"

"It's two of those Rowdy, uh, boys or somethin'!"

The red ruff glanced at his brother. "Boomer, the mobsters." Nodding, the blue ruff darted at the men and women drawing their guns, knocking all of them out, and Brick turned his gaze towards Briggs, who was trying to stand up and draw a gun himself.

Brick zapped it out his hand, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and facing him. "What do you want kid?" Briggs demanded.

Brick spoke in a threatening voice "A strand of your hair, it was found on that victim you strangled. The one you dumped in the creek."

"What do you care if I killed him? Did the cops send you?"

"Of course not." Brick then saw the knife Briggs pulled from his belt and countered a swipe from it a bit too late, as Briggs got out of his grasp and ran out the door, past Boomer who had knocked out the other mobsters by now.

The red ruff cursed. 'Note for future, always expect second attack from enemy' Brick flew out the door. "Butch!" he shouted.

The green ruff, who had been knocking people out by hitting them sharply on the back of their collar bone, turned to see Briggs running his way. The assassin took a swing with the blade at him, but Butch dodged it, and performed a martial art flipping Briggs over, and punched him out.

Picking him up, the three ruffs heard the sound of more of them about to come through the door, so they zoomed out of there and towards the FDPD building. It wasn't long before a few police officers came out and found an unconscious Joe Briggs on the front steps with a note which read 'check the hair on the strangled victim'.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Well that was, kinda awesome" Boomer expressed, flying alongside the other two supers.

"This isn't a game Boomer. People could get hurt when dealing with criminals like this" Brick reminded, as the three of them arrived back at the lab in the house, where their parent, and the blue Powerpuff greeted them.

"Boys you did it! You actually caught him" Wendy came over and hugged them.

"You three solved a crime? I can't believe it I can't believe it! Does this mean you're becoming heroes now?" the Powerpuff jumped up and down excitedly.

"Hey Bubbles, did you just get here?" asked Boomer.

"Since it's not a school night I'm allowed to stay up a little later, and I managed to sneak away. Got here just a few minutes ago" she floated over to her counterpart to hear about what the boys did this evening. Leaving out the more grim details, Boomer filled her in on what just happened.

"How was it?" Wendy asked her eldest son, both of them standing by the computer.

"It was, Exhilarating, but necessary." The ruff took off his hat and ruffled his scruffy stuck up hair.

"Well good, because I don't think you'll just be dealing with adversaries in this city for long" Wendy commented in a worried tone.

"What do you mean?" Brick looked up.

"Bubbles told me just before you returned" she motioned over to the Powerpuff.

With the attention of all three ruffs, the girl explained. "Now don't get worried from what I'm about to say, but, both Blossom and Buttercup, well, now know about you three."

"They what?" questioned Butch, as he and Boomer were taken aback slightly. Brick remained silent.

"Don't worry, Blossom isn't the type of person to just go in and arrest someone without confir-, cofirma- uh, knowing that the person is guilty. So hopefully with a bit of reasoning, and showing her, if she doesn't find out for herself, that you boys aren't criminals anymore, she won't do anything against you and leave you be."

The blonde rested her hands together. "Who knows, maybe she'll be proud of you three starting to solve crimes in this city."

Butch scoffed "I doubt it."

Wendy was too thinking about what Bubbles had informed them about. She didn't know Bubbles's sisters personally, but from what she heard from Townsville, they were reasonable most of the time, and while they have made mistakes before, if this situation was explained to them clearly they would see that the boys no longer pose as a threat. If anything, the opposite now. "I have an idea" Wendy announced.

"As you know, I used to know Professor Utonium back in high school in Townsville. Bubbles do you think it would be okay if I phoned your father tomorrow and asked to see him again, just to explain everything concerning the boys to him and your sisters?"

The puff's eyes widened and a smile grew on her face. "You visit us? Of course! The Professor would love that! Just, please don't tell I've been meeting with you, please."

Wendy nodded.

Looking at each other, the boys unanimously agreed that it was a good idea.

Glancing at her watch, Wendy turned to the children. "It's getting quite late, you can stay and talk to the boys for a little bit longer Bubbles, but they have to have a bath and go to bed soon, even if it isn't a school night."

The parent performed a quick medical check on the boys each while Bubbles was talking to her counterpart who was waiting his turn. "So how's school going?"

"We're, socially improving, that's what Brick said. Our teacher is very nice and suggested Butch join the soccer team, which he wasn't too happy about and Wendy had to calm him down" the ruff laughed.

Bubbles giggled "Tee-hee, Buttercup plays for the soccer team at our school." The blonde girl then remembered "Boomie, you know when you asked me why I didn't call the Professor dad? Well, don't you call Wendy mom? I haven't heard you say it yet."

The Rowdyruff placed a hand on his chin. "Hm, dunno, never really thought about it."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Eventually, it was time for Bubbles to go. After saying goodbye, the boys took their baths, which afterwards Brick floated downstairs in his pyjamas, to quickly see if the news was reporting anything about Joe Briggs being caught. And while it was reporting he was in custody, nothing was mentioned about Brick or his brothers.

"You're brothers are in bed now Brick" Wendy appeared beside him turning off the television, clearly ready for bed herself, wearing a robe over her night dress. "C'mon, you'd better go yourself" she yawned.

"Of course." Before the red leader wanted to go to sleep however, he was still curious about something. From earlier today in his conversation with Chief Mccoy.

"Wendy, when I was speaking with the chief, your father, he told me that he'd hadn't seen you happier since you were with Mark. This, Mark Innlost. And it occurs to me that you haven't really told us about the 'creator of chemical x', so to speak. I mean, there's a wardrobe full of a man's clothing up there, and you still sleep on one side of a double bed" he pointed out, to which there was a pause. Brick then felt some regret, maybe he shouldn't have asked, as it was probably a sensitive subject to her.

Wendy knew eventually she would have to tell this story. The story of the boys, would have been, adoptive father. And perhaps it was best to tell it to Brick first, being the most mature out of the three She just had to. "You're right Brick, I should tell you about him. He's the reason you, you're brothers, and the Powerpuff girls are here in the first place."

She took a seat on the sofa and stared at the floor, fiddling with the arm rest. Brick floated over and sat next to her as she began her story. "As I told Boomer, I used to live in Townsville and went to high school there. My father started off as a cop in Townsville, it wasn't as bad with crime as it was just before the girls were created."

She shuffled her shoulders slightly as she delved back into her memories. "In high school, I was a bit of a science geek, even back then" she let out a short laugh.

"And of course, I didn't fit in with anyone else, at first. Often I was teased by the popular girls. One of them grew up to marry that Mr Morebucks guy, could you believe it? And, one day, they deliberately tripped me up by the lockers, making me drop all my books and papers. They were laughing and giggling of course, walking off leaving me to pick everything up. And then a boy started helping me, and offered his hand."

Smiling warmly at the memory she continued. "I knew who he was already because in he was in some of the same classes as I was, but that was we first time we really talked to each other. He asked me if I was okay and noticed from my papers I was interested in the same subjects of science as he was."

Wendy turned to Brick. "And he introduced me to Professor Utonium, well, just John Utonium then obviously. And your teacher, Mr Scott, well, Alfie."

Wendy at this point seemed to mentally drift off into the past, judging by the look in her eyes. "The four of us became quite good friends for the rest of high school. We weren't the popular kids, and although somewhat geeky we didn't fall into the category of nerds either, but it was four, the gang, if you will" she chuckled.

"Eventually Mark and I started sitting together in classes that we both happened to be in. And although John too was interested in science, he wasn't interested in the same types of sciences as myself and Mark were. And out of the four, I would talk and hang out with Mark the most."

"Oh he was handsome, intelligent, a genius even. Whenever I was depressed or those other girls teased me again, he would be right there like a knight, and he wasn't a tough kid, but he was assertive when wanted to be. Always telling me, 'People may be aggravating you now, but they'll come begging for help in the future'. Oh he made me laugh, in a good way. He was so ambitious."

"I remember conducting science experiments with him, which ninety percent of the time ended in an explosion, sometimes a fire. His parents were hardly home most of the time anyway. He didn't exactly have the best of relations with them. But that didn't stop him, you know, he always said he'd invent a chemical one day. A chemical that could revive life."

"Revive life?" Brick repeated tilting his head. He didn't know chemical X was going to be used for that.

"Yes" Wendy confirmed. "He wanted to find a way to bring people back from the dead, and figured chemistry was the way. He spent his last years in high school either studying, figuring out a way to create said chemical, or, with me. Me and him were spending more of our time together. It wasn't long 'til we became boyfriend and girlfriend. And I fell in love with him."

She paused for a bit. "During our school time, us four in the gang always dreamed of going to Founders city and making it big there. And during our time in college, my dad, as you know, got a job here in the force. I panicked as I thought I wouldn't be able to see Mark as much, but he was full of surprises, and week after I left he got a job as a lab assistant in Founders and rented out a very small run down apartment here."

"So did you move in with him?" wondered Brick.

"Actually, I did. I didn't care about the state of the apartment. And while he worked his way up as a scientist, ending up working for the city's government, I took a job as a lawyer at first, helping men and fathers get custody of children. We were both twenty one then, and at age twenty two, he proposed, and we married."

She turned to Brick again. "We were very young I know, but we didn't care. After we married we bought this house and built the lab downstairs. After I left my job as a lawyer I became a scientist like him, where he started working on creating that 'miracle' chemical."

"He spent years working to create it. Down in that very lab. When someone who tragically died and donated his body, Ian was the person's name, it was used by Mark to test the chemical on. It didn't work of course, and the body is still frozen up in a capsule at the Founders research lab."

Wendy's voice became quieter and softer. "Mark then used several radiation experiments on the chemical, which I assisted with. Though now," she turned away from Brick. "Now I know that was the worst decision we ever made. The worst the radiation ever did to me was leave me infertile, hence why we never had any children, even though we both really wanted them. But with Mark,"

She sucked in a sharp breath "He, he developed cancer from radiation exposure." She paused again, composing herself. "He died, at age twenty seven in the hospital, with me holding his hand."

The Rowdyruff observed his mother with a blank expression, noticing a single tear run down her cheek. He was speechless.

"That was three years ago. I'm thirty now. I became a widow at age twenty seven. After his funeral I hardly left this house. Preferring to work at home, only going out when I had to, groceries and that." She sniffed.

"I spent most days crying, not socialising. Mark did create a chemical in the end, it's what chemical X is now, though I hated the blasted thing, gave most of it to John in Townsville, which he created the girls with. Even I was amazed that it did do something. It created life. You boys and the girls. It acually gave you all these powers too. But it took his life."

She sighed again "In recent months I've been getting better, and when I found you, recognising the look the chemical gave the girls on you, well I became fascinated, and wanted to take you in. One last thing he gave left for me."

The only noise in the room now was the clock ticking and it was getting darker. Brick floated to his parent. "Wendy" he put a hand on shoulder. "Sorry for making you tell me this. You don't have to tell Boomer and Butch just yet. And if it helps, Mark definitely sound like a fantastic man and a genius." Brick nearly lost his brothers once, he couldn't imagine actually losing them.

The scientist wiped her face. "He was, and it's okay, I'll tell them tomorrow. Sorry about this" she referenced her face. "We'd better get you to bed."

"Don't apologise" Brick comforted, floating up the stairs with her.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Tucking them in, Wendy said the goodnight courtesies to her children. "So, is this hero thing going to continue?" she smiled.

"Maybe, though I doubt the people of Founders will accept us with open arms" Butch sighed.

"Yeah" Boomer melancholy expressed. "Some of the kids at school shout things at us. Like 'you three are all still evil'. 'You're all criminals, you're not the Powerpuff girls!' Face it, people are always going to like the girls better than us. At the end of the day, they're sugar spice and everything nice, and we're snips snails and puppy dogs tails."

"So what if you are?" Wendy interjected. "Puppy dogs are cute aren't they?" she ruffled Boomer's hair.

"And snails must be strong if they carry their homes on their backs everywhere" she did the top button on Butch's shirt up.

"And isn't hair a sign of maturity, and wisdom?" she tucked Brick in.

"These ingredients make the perfect little boys, and it wouldn't be any other way." she gave each of them a kiss on the head, and headed out switching off the light. "Goodnight sweeties."

"Goodnight mom" yawned Boomer.

The scientist closed the door gently, and as she turned to go to her room, she felt a tear, a tear of joy this time, roll down her cheek which she wiped away, and repeated what Boomer had said. "Mom."

Hey guys! Sorry for the very late update again. This was longer than most chapters. Oh and I know apparently Professor Utonium went to elementary school in the 50s, but let's say for the sake of this story he's the same age as Wendy. Hope you enjoyed this backstory of chemical x, and the boys first, technically first, night as crimefighters. Thanks for the reviews favs and follows.

Rowdyruff boys and Powerpuff girls belong to CN.


	19. Making a difference

The weekend proceeded, and the boys had decided to continue this crime fighting crusade after all.

His own brothers being beaten to near death by criminals, innocent people who had family in the hostage situation at the mall, the police officers who had their own families, and the latest victim of Briggs, who had children of his own, Brick was in now full commitment and knowledge that he was going to carry on this fight.

Even Butch, who didn't want but had to admit that it was slightly fun. It reminded him of the days when they used to go out and fight thugs, except this time it was for a better cause.

On the Saturday, chief Mccoy was in the room with the holding cells in the FDPD building, privately talking with the officers who brought in hitman Joe Briggs after finding him left on the steps of the building.

"The note left on him was right sir, we found a hair on the victim which belonged to Briggs. Plus evidence of particles from a barge ship, that we can confirm that he was on" the officer explained to the chief.

"Who could've possibly apprehended Briggs and found that evidence? They would've had to sneak into the building to do that" questioned Mccoy, and the officer directed his attention to a nearby television.

"Well sir, here's the footage from the CCTV cameras outside."

Mccoy stared at the set, and it revealed three streaks of red blue and green lights, flying to the front steps of the building, leaving Briggs and the note there. His eyebrows raised slightly, as the three lights for a brief second turned into three little boys, and straight back to three lights again zooming off. His 'grandsons'. They had caught Briggs.

"What should we tell the media sir?" asked the officer.

"Nothing. At least not yet. I have to pay my daughter a visit first" answered the chief.

Either way, the mayor, who had told them to stand down on the Briggs case, was not going to like this. Although, what could she say? It was the Rowdyruff boys, not the police, who caught Briggs after all.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Wendy stood in her kitchen with her back leaning against the wall, twiddling the phone cord with her fingers nervously as the phone dialed. She hadn't spoken to John Utonium in three years, and what she was about to tell him didn't exactly calm her nerves.

Bubbles was kind enough to give her the Utonium house number. However the Powerpuff was one of the things she was worried about the most. Bubbles had not yet told the Professor about her secret meetings with Wendy and the boys.

Wendy felt slightly guilty about not letting him know about this, but if he found out that she was letting his own daughter, travel from city to city, without telling him, oh he would be so cross with her. Her and Bubbles. What a way to reconnect with an old friend. 'Nice to talk to you again, oh by the way, I've been letting your daughter visit us in the middle of the night without your knowledge'.

Someone then answered. _"Hello."_

It was the Professor. She recognised his voice, even after three years. Her words got stuck in her throat for a second before she managed to say "H-hello, is that John Utonium?"

" _Yes who's speaking?"_

"Hi John, i-it's Wendy, Wendy Innlost, do you remember me?"

" _Wendy? Is that really you?"_

"Hey John, it's been a while."

" _Why I haven't seen you in years!"_

"Technically you still haven't" Wendy chuckled.

" _Right! I haven't seen you since Mark's-, oh, um, how are you by the way. How are you doing?"_ the Professor asked in a concerned tone.

"I'm, coping. Thanks for asking" she responded.

" _How on earth did you get my number?"_ the Professor's tone was now more uplifting.

"Oh, um, online phonebook? But anyway John, the reason I called you, after all this time, was actually about three certain chemical x users, and no, I don't mean your girls. I'm sure you've heard by now about the uh, the Rowdyruff boys living in Founders city."

" _That's right, I did hear. On the news and everything. What is it? Are they causing trouble like they did in that riot? Do you need my girls to intervene? I know how bad the crime rate is in that city."_

"No no, it's nothing like that John, honestly. In fact, it's quite the opposite. You see, I'm sure you heard that the boys have been adopted by someone whom they haven't named."

" _Right?"_

"Well, that person, happens to be, me. I've adopted them." Wendy then spent the next couple of minutes explaining to her old friend about the boys situation and how they are not the criminals they once were. How they were homeless, how terrible their experience living in the prison was. How they swore off crime completely, and how she found them. Even what the boys did the previous night, solving a murder case.

Professor Utonium became more sympathetic when Wendy told their story. How she described life on the inside which she swore were the boys words, not hers. This sounded all too realistic for a sob story the boys might've just made up. _"And you're certain they're not dangerous?"_ he asked cautiously.

"They've been living with me for a while now, and even before that, they were hesitant about being associated with me because of their reputation, and didn't want my name slandered. But now, especially after last night, I think this town's going to look at them very differently."

" _And you want me to explain to my girls how they needn't not worry about them?"_

"Actually John, I think it would be much better if they heard it from myself. Would it be okay to explain it to them now, if they're around?"

The Professor put his hand on his chin in thought for a second. _"I think it would be more effective if you explained it to them in person. Tell you what Wendy, how about I invite you to dinner with the girls and myself so you can fully explain it to them. It'll be more believable for them once they meet and get to know you, of course, if that's okay with you?"_

"That sounds wonderful John" she accepted, and the Professor gave her his address, agreeing on next Wednesday night. The two scientists then just caught up on recent years and what they've been doing recently, how they were.

Eventually they said goodbye to each other and hung up. Wendy sighed from relief. That was the easy part however. The hard part was actually explaining to Blossom and Buttercup about the boys. Well if Bubbles indication of them is indeed true, then they'll, specifically Blossom, should be reasonable enough and understand.

John Utonium put the phone down, his thoughts still going through his mind. He couldn't help but wonder if his old friend, as kind as she was, was just trying to fill some void after Mark died. He remembered how distraught and upset she was at the funeral, definitely not the Wendy she usually was. But this conversation just now had without a doubt confirmed to him that she seemed much livelier, and when she spoke of the boys, she sounded so, happy. Maybe the boys were changing.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

That saturday night, all three ruffs were down in the lab again, fitting on their armour lined outfits, preparing to go out for the second night. "So what is it this night?" wondered the blue Rowdyruff.

"We're going on patrol and scanning the city for any crime in progress or any crime that has just happened. Knowing this town, we're going to have busy night" the ruff leader remarked.

"Now remember boys, if you ever get into any tight spots, zoom out of there immediately, I'll be in touch with you for most of the night" their mother advised them. "Your shirts should be enough to protect you anyway should if by chance any adversary has duranium bullets on them. Especially on your black stripes, that's where the armour's the strongest."

"Thanks mom, we'll stay in touch." Brick turned to his brothers in saying in an all serious tone "Alright boys, time to _properly_ christen this crime fighting career." The boys zipped out the window in tri formation, with Brick in the lead.

"Be careful-" Wendy tried to say but even with their super hearing, she doubted they heard her.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The night air was surprisingly warm and the lights of the city began to emit as it became darker. The boys kept a high altitude, flying mainly over the more run down areas of Founders, like where their old warehouse home was.

"If we're going to kick the behinds of some criminal scum maybe we should try the back alleys?" Butch suggested flying with his hands behind his head and his back facing the ground as if he were laying down.

"That's what we've been doing. I'm heading us back to the more cosmopolitan areas of the city, see if anything's going on there" Brick informed.

Meanwhile, Boomer tilted his head in a certain direction. He swore he could hear something in the distance, some sort of sound. "Do you guys hear that?"

"What is it Boomer?" asked Brick.

"Use your super hearing."

There were a few seconds of silence and listening, until the other two ruffs heard the same noise. "That sounds like…"

"A bank job. It's a bank alarm" Brick interrupted his blue brother.

"Of course, we would know" smirked Butch.

"And judging by the distance and direction of the noise, it's the St Stephan's district" the red ruff deduced as he zoomed in that very direction, his brothers tailing behind.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"That's better Frank, I'm surprised the whole street doesn't hear us" one thug in a ski mask muttered as his accomplice cut the alarm wire.

There were five thugs in total, all armed, faces covered. "What about the cameras?" asked the thug who cut the alarm.

"We're all in masks, it won't matter. Besides, jobs like this have been done before, but they don't do anything about it. All they do is brace themselves for the next bank job" one thug began smashing the drawers behind the desks with his gun. The others started to work on drilling into one of the vaults.

They were about half way into drilling, when all of a sudden their accomplice let out a yell and was thrown from across the room and hit the vault door right above them, falling to the floor.

"What the- whoa!" the startled thugs turned to face three short floating silhouettes in the dark. Red blue and green irises illuminating.

"What the hell are you?"

"Shoot 'em!"

Only a few bullets managed to bounce off the figures before three beams of laser vision knocked the firearms out of three thugs hands. And in a swift dash of red blue and green, it all blacked out for those three criminals.

Only one thug remained, who was scared and still had his firearm. In desperation, he fired up at the ceiling where a chandelier hung. He got a lucky shot and the whole thing came crashing down on the floating figures. This hardly affected them, but it gave him time to escape.

Busting a window open, he stumbled out and to the getaway car, desperately trying to start it. "C'mon c'mon why aren't you working?" The windscreen suddenly smashed into bits and he was pulled out, where he got a better view of his stalkers. Three little funny looking boys. Three little funny looking boys who punched him out.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"I see why you told us to sabotage their car now Brick" Boomer brushed some gun residue off his shirt.

"I think we should always do that first thing in heists like this." Brick got on his comm. "Mom, text your father about picking up the unconscious robbers here. After catching Joe Briggs last night he probably knows it was us by now."

" _On it, well done boys. He's bound to want an explanation at some point though."_

"He'll get one. But for now we're continuing our patrol."

For pretty much most of the night, the boys circled round the city several times, listening out for anything in progress or that just happened.

It was definitely not uneventful. Being Founders city, the night provided a buffet of crime. The boys, in total that night, apprehended six muggers, stopped two attempted kidnappings, prevented five attempted murders, mostly street crime murders, and broke up three gang fights.

They used tape recordings from a small microphone in their belt, which Wendy designed for them, to record what the criminals were saying and be used as evidence.

Butch in particularly shone during the times where they engaged with street thugs. As they were simply too many thugs to knock out all at once, fighting them hand to hand was required. Remembering everything he learnt and practiced about martial arts from their time in the prison, the green Rowdyruff guided his brothers through the fights and to remarkable victories, every time.

The holding cells on the FDPD building were flooded that night with unconscious thugs. All injured. The officers were both surprised and grateful at the same time. These were the most criminals that had been arrested in one night.

Sunday night was similar, except this time a lot of detective work was involved. Brick utilised the device in his hat to track down stolen money, drug dealers, missing persons, and even the culprits to recent murders.

Wendy was conflicted about letting the boys stay out too late, since it was a school night this time. But the number of crimes they solved, stopped, and prevented, prompted her to allow them to stay out for a couple more hours.

Some police officers witnessed the boys whilst tackling a crime themselves, whether it was a shooting or a standoff in a liquor store, they saw the three disarm the thugs, save the hostages and bring out the unconscious criminals.

The cops themselves were split on what they had seen. Many were grateful. Some felt a bit showed up. Mainly because they've been dealing with things like this for years, then the boys come along and within a weekend they've broken a record.

Either way, Founders city was going to change.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

It was Monday afternoon, and in the city of Townsville a massive robbery had just taken place in the city's first national bank. There were police tape and squad cars surrounding the entire area, with the officers talking to the managers of the firm.

Inside there was a considerable amount of damage, especially to the doors to the vaults, which were thrown across the room and into the walls. The alarm wires were cut also as well as the security cameras being smashed.

The robbery took place during the night, hence why no one else was in the building at the time of the incident, and when the Powerpuff girls were asleep.

Blossom herself was in the mayor's office that afternoon discussing the crime with the mayor, Ms Bellum, and Townsville's chief of police.

"Mr Mayor I'm so sorry my sisters and I were not able to stop this robbery."

"Oh that's alright Blossom."

The heroine raised an eyebrow "Is it?"

"Well, no. Millions of dollars stolen" the short mustached man sighed. "And the police are theorizing that it happened all in the span of one hour! How do you steal all those notes in that amount of time!" the Mayor expressed. "Oh chief please tell me you have some leads?"

The Townsville police chief didn't look the mayor in the eye. "Unfortunately nothing yet Mr Mayor. We started this investigation this morning, and several hours on the forensics still can't make heads or tails of it." He pulled his police hat downwards.

"What about the security footage chief?" asked Ms Bellum.

"One blessing is that not all of the footage was damaged, and can be restored, though it'll take some time" he answered.

"And as soon as you do, let us know who committed that robbery straight away. And we'll let Blossom and her heroic sisters know!" the Mayor jabbed his arm in the air.

"Well thank you chief. Good luck in your investigation. Let us know if you find anything" Ms Bellum showed the police chief out after he said his goodbyes to them.

The Mayor jumped down from his seat and too headed to the door. "Phew, I think I need to take my medication after all this."

"Of course Mr Mayor, you'd better have a lie down too" suggested Ms Bellum holding the door open for him.

"Yes of course yes, lie down." The Mayor scurried out and Ms Bellum closed the door behind him.

"Do you think we'll catch the crooks who did this Ms Bellum?" asked the Powerpuff, uncertainty in her voice.

"I know you will Blossom, it'll just take a little longer than usual. Speaking of which, the Mayor was right, it is a little strange how someone could steal that amount of money in that little time."

"It couldn't have been common crooks, or villains like Fuzzy Lumpkins or the gang green gang, obviously. Princess doesn't need all that money, Sedusa couldn't have worked that fast, and this isn't HIM's usual MO. And if it was Mojo he would've used some sort of gigantic robot or something, which would've left a bigger hole in the bank's wall" the pink puff theorized.

Ms Bellum walked over to the desk. "It's almost like they had super speed. Who do we know that has super speed as fast as you girls?"

Blossom glanced up at the secretary. "You don't think- wait, Ms Bellum, did you arrange that phone call with the Founders chief of police like I asked-"

"Already dialing Blossom" the woman handed her the phone. The Powerpuff leader had requested Ms Bellum to arrange a phone call with Chief Mccoy of Founders city, to get more information about the situation with the Rowdyruff boys living over there.

" _Hello, chief Mccoy's office"_ a man, the chief, answered.

"Hello, chief Mccoy of Founders city?"

" _Yes who's calling?"_

"Hi this is Blossom Utonium from the Powerpuff girls in Townsville, I'm calling from Townsville's Mayor's office."

" _Ah yes, they said you'd call, so, what can I do for you Miss Utonium?"_

"Well, I was actually concerned about three certain supervillains who we now know are living in your city that you protect."

" _Supervillains?"_

"Yes, the Rowdyruff boys. I heard about them being involved in that riot you had the other night, and as their old adversary, as well as them originating from my city, I feel responsible and if you say the word, me and my sisters will gladly fly over and take care of that problem if they start to cause trouble again."

There was a short pause until Chief Mccoy started chuckling on the other end. _"Miss Utonium, I think you've been watching too many news reports. Yes Founders city is filled to the brim with crime, but I can say for certain that those boys are not a part of that problem. I'm sure you've heard they've been adopted by, someone. And I've visited them, they are just perfectly normal little boys now."_

Mccoy leaned back in his chair. _"In fact as of recently, they've been quite the opposite of villains. For the past three nights they've gone out and apprehended dozens of criminals, stopping crimes in progress, and solving cases which had even us baffled."_

"They-, they what?" Blossom's voice became quieter and had a confused expression on her face.

" _In fact quite recently they stopped an attempted bank robbery by five armed thugs. Amazing isn't it? You don't have to worry about them Miss Utonium. They could be the best thing that ever happened to this city, but thanks for your concern."_

Mccoy hung up, and Blossom just floated there for a few seconds before putting the phone down.

"What is it Blossom?" asked Ms Bellum, observing the girl's confused state.

The puff leader explained everything the chief had said, leaving even the secretary herself wondering. "Hm, well that is odd, and from the Founders police chief too. Well until our chief gets that CCTV footage restored, we'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah, of course" the pink puff put a hand to her chin unsure.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"He said what!" Buttercup exclaimed flying alongside her sisters on the way home.

"Well you heard it from the chief himself" Bubbles reminded, playing along.

"It's just so strange. Why would the those stupid, aggravating Rowdyruff boys fight criminals instead of taking advantage of that crime cesspool?" the leader pondered. "No doubt they're doing it for themselves, or perhaps trying to deceive that town."

Bubbles resisted the urge to object, wanting to keep her secret. But she knew that Blossom was wrong, and what the boys went through. They were actually becoming more selfless by the day.

The siblings arrived home and floated into the livingroom, where the Professor saw them. "Oh girls you're here."

"Hi Professor!"

"Hello Bubbles, I'm glad you three are back, as you're probably wondering why I've ironed your special dresses today."

The girls remembered those. They wore them when the Professor held a house party once, and Bubbles lost Octi, accusing everyone of stealing him. Though in the end it was just the Professor sowing him back together.

"Well this Wednesday night, I've invited a special guest round for dinner. An old friend actually."

"An old friend? Who?" wondered Blossom.

Bubbles then tweaked it, remembering that Mrs Innlost was going to call him. "Ooh ooh, is it that Wendy friend you told us about?"

"Why yes, that, was quite a good guess Bubbles."

The blue Powerpuff kinda regretted saying that, figuring her sisters might get suspicious. "Well, she's the only other friend you've mentioned whom we haven't met yet" the blonde quickly thought of a lie.

"Is she the one living in Founders city?" asked Blossom.

"Indeed." The Professor then proceeded to tell the girls everything about his old high school friends. About Wendy's late husband, whom the Professor described as 'a genius who could put himself to shame'.

How Mark was the creator of chemical x, and how he died creating it. The girls looked very sympathetic at this part. Although Bubbles already knew a few things about the scientist woman, she didn't know that part.

"and the reason she's coming over girls, is to give some news to you three, which she'll tell at dinner on that night." The Professor then left and headed to another room, leaving Blossom and Buttercup to ponder.

"That's a very sad story" Bubbles looked to the floor. She was playing along for most of it, up until that part, where she hung on to every word from the Professor.

"Yeah. But news though? What news?" Buttercup wondered.

"I bet it's something to do with a science project, or something like that. The co-creator of chemical x coming here, how exciting!" expressed Blossom.

Bubbles couldn't help but enjoy watching her sisters try to figure it out. But there was a lingering worry at the pit of her stomach. She knew what her sisters reaction would be when Wendy told them. They would greatly surprised, but coming from Wendy herself, they might just accept it.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Wendy pulled up outside the Utonium house after the partially long drive to Townsville. She asked her father, chief Mccoy, to stay at her house that evening to look after the boys, and luckily, this was one of the few nights in a while he managed to leave work early. He didn't seem to mind looking after them though, just as long as the media didn't find out, as they'd probably defame him.

Locking her car and looking up at the large white house with the three circular windows, she could not help but feel pangs of nervousness go through her. Walking up to the door and ringing the bell, she planned in her head of how she was going to explain it to the girls.

Then the door opened, and a tall black haired man in a suit greeted her, a big smile on his face. "Wendy! It's been a long time!"

They shook hands and Wendy couldn't help chuckle and smile back. "Hello John, it's been a long time since I saw you in person." She stepped inside and took off her coat covering her red dress. "I figured the house with the big circular windows was yours" she joked.

"Oh yes, not too long a drive was it?" asked the Professor hanging up her coat.

"No it was fine."

"Girls, Wendy's here!" The Professor called out, before turning back to his friend. "So how are the boys then?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Oh they're fine, my father's with them. He's just as keen on getting to know them as they are him" she replied in the hushed voice.

"Well I'll try to ease it into conversation for you to explain it."

"Thanks John, oh um, your girls" she motioned her head to where the girls were floating behind the Professor.

"Oh, girls, there you are. This is my friend whom I've told you about, from Founders."

The girls, who were in their special dresses, all curtseyed to her. Even Buttercup. Begrudgingly of course.

"Wendy these are my girls, they're-"

"Oh you don't need to introduce them John, everyone knows the Powerpuff girls." She walked over to them and offered her hand.

"You must be Blossom, Buttercup," she shook the two girls stubbed hands. "And of course, Bubbles."

"Hello, Mrs Innlost" the blonde puff gave her a small sly wink which Wendy returned.

"It's finally great to meet you Mrs Innlost. The Professor's told us all about you. Is it true that you are the co-creator of chemical x?" Blossom made conversation with their guest.

"Oh I can't take credit for that. It was mostly my late husband's work. I don't know if your father's told you about-"

"He did. Mr Innlost sounded like a great man, and a genius. The reason my sisters and I are here."

"Well some of that credit of creating you has to go to the Professor too" Wendy reminded half jokingly. So far her interactions with the girls was going well. They were very polite and mannerly, John obviously did a good job. She hoped she could do as good with her boys.

"Dinner's all ready if you'd like to come into the dining room" the Professor showed them in where they all sat round the oblong table. The Professor sat at the head, with the girls and Wendy sat opposite each other.

For most of the evening, the dinner went quite well. It was some salad with a small steak, nothing too fancy. Both Wendy and Bubbles spoke to each other as if they didn't already know one another, keeping up the act. Wendy had to admit, the blue Powerpuff was very good at this.

The conversations went on for most of the evening. Buttercup became slightly annoyed at her pink sister, as Blossom discreetly nudged her in the ribs whenever she thought she was going to say something stupid.

"So Mark and I combined the two compounds together to create the basis of the chemical. He figured out how of course."

"So that's how he did it. You know you're going to have to tell me yours and Mark's scientific secrets at some point" teased the Professor.

"C'mon John, that would be cheating now wouldn't it?" she laughed.

"The Professor invents a lot of interesting things, do you invent things Mrs Innlost?" asked Blossom.

"Please, just call me Wendy. And yes, I do invent some things every now and then. I work for the Founders city government, inventing and repairing bits of technology for them."

"Must be interesting, Wendy" Blossom gave a small laugh. In truth, the puff leader was becoming quite impressed by the scientist. She seemed just as intelligent as the Professor, she knew what she was talking about, she was charming, polite, and could crack a good joke. Blossom, although she gathered by now that it would definitely not be Mrs Innlost, she always wanted a mother figure like that.

Dessert was brought out as the evening progressed on, which Bubbles and Buttercup were looking forward to, though Wendy and the Professor just settled for a drink instead. "So how's Alfie getting on? Is he enjoying his teaching job?" asked the Professor.

"Uh, wasn't there some 'news' you wanted to give us?" Buttercup interjected whilst eating some ice cream.

"Buttercup!" Blossom exclaimed in a whisper, as she figured her sister was being rude.

"No it's okay, Buttercup's right, I do have some news to tell you" spoke up the scientist woman.

Bubbles tensed a bit in her seat. She knew what Wendy was about to say.

The Professor tried to segway the conversation for her. "You said that it was to do with the crime rate in Founders city Wendy?"

"Oh I see, now we're talking" Buttercup suddenly became interested.

"Why yes, sort of." She remembered everything she planned in her head. "As you girls already know, I've been living in Founders city for a while now, and we've had our fair share of visitors, especially three certain ones from this city."

Blossom raised an eyebrow in realisation. "Oh, I think I know who you're talking about. It's the Rowdyruff boys isn't it?"

"Ha! Knew it!" Buttercup gloated, believing fully she was right.

"I figured they would be causing trouble over there and only solving those crimes for their own gain. That place is a breeding ground for crime from what I've heard, it's the perfect place for them. And it's out of our radar. Strange thing is, I've heard that someone actually managed to adopt them, as a way for the police to keep an eye on them. But who in the right mind would do that?" Blossom questioned.

"They thought they could hide from us, then again the way they were captured last time we don't even need to find them" Buttercup took a sip of her drink.

"Is that what the news is Mrs Innlost? The boys are causing trouble in Founders city, so much so that you're asking for our help to apprehend them? Because I assure you me and my sisters would be more than happy to do so" the puff leader proclaimed, and Bubbles sank a bit in her chair, glancing back at Wendy.

"Now girls, allow Wendy to explain" said the Professor.

"It's, actually quite the opposite girls" the guest circled her thumb around the wine glass she was holding. "You see, having a part in the creation of chemical x, and seeing how these boys were homeless and needed a family, well like you said Blossom, they've been adopted by a citizen. And that citizen, happens to be, me. I'm the adoptive mother of the Rowdyruff boys."

Buttercup almost choked on her drink, and just managed to swallow it. "Ugh, why are people always drinking something when they hear shocking news? But seriously, you what!"

"Buttercup, manners" the Professor scorned.

"Professor, did you hear what she just said?" questioned the very taken aback pink leader.

"I did Blossom, in fact that's the reason Wendy is here now. She told me everything over the phone and I offered for her to come over here, so she could explain everything to you."

"I thought it would be best if I did it in person" said the guest. "You girls have nothing to worry about with the boys anymore. I've known them for quite some time now. At first, they wanted nothing to do with me, because they knew I would probably be slandered if I was associating with them. But you didn't see it girls" she reminisced back to when she met the boys.

"They had just been through an eighteen month sentence in one of the toughest prisons, where they were forbidden to use their powers under threat of being thrown into an isolation room. They were beaten, scrutinized, and afraid. So much so that they swore off crime forever, and were living in an old warehouse on their own, scavenging the streets for food. Then I found them, and after helping me with my own experiments on chemical x, I became quite fond of them and vice versa. In the end, after consulting them, I adopted them."

"What are they like?" Bubbles played along. She had already played with the boys several times.

"Oh they're not the miscreants they once were, they're almost like angels. Of course, raising small children doesn't go without disciplining, but they're good as gold most of the time. Butch has a great talent for sports and martial arts, he's quite the fighter."

Buttercup furrowed her eyebrows at this.

Wendy continued "And Boomer's such a sweet cute lovely little boy."

Bubbles smiled and put her hands to her chest.

"As for Brick, my is he intelligent for his age. Already he is working his way to being top of the class."

Blossom raised an eyebrow in disbelief and somewhat disgust.

"So I'm just letting you girls know that it's three less criminals you have to worry about. In fact, the three of them have just begun their own crusade to cleaning up crime in Founders, they're heroes now. And at their rate, Founders will no longer be that, breeding ground for crime, that it once was."

"Okay Wendy. If you need any tips on how to raise three super powered, never hesitate to call me" offered the Professor.

Blossom sat there dumbfounded. She could not believe what she was hearing. Mrs Innlost was so intelligent, so good-hearted, and for her to adopt those evil wretched Rowdyruffs? No, they must be deceiving her. But how? A scientist like Wendy, tricked by those braindead morons. Blossom didn't believe what Wendy had said about Brick was true, she wouldn't believe it.

Okay, maybe it was tough for them inside the prison, and while that was sympathetic, she knew the ruffs, and knew that it would not change them. And also, maybe there was some ounce of intelligence in them, if they could deceive poor widowed Mrs Innlost. Oh the nerve of them, playing on a void Wendy was most likely trying to fill after Mr Innlost passed away.

Blossom vowed she would get to the bottom of this.

Eventually it was time for Wendy to go, and while Blossom and Buttercup were helping the Professor taking things out to the kitchen, Bubbles was left alone briefly with the guest. "Well done Mrs Innlost, I thought you did quite well" the puff whispered.

"Really? Your sisters reactions weren't very positive" the scientist whispered back.

"Believe or not, that reaction was less than what I was expecting. So how are the boys?"

"Oh they're with my father. They're fine. Thanks for trying to help Bubbles."

"Thank you for not telling the Professor about me visiting you."

Said Professor then walked into the hallway, grabbing Wendy's coat for her. "Thanks ever so much for coming over Wendy. I hope you enjoyed it."

"Oh thank _you_ John, it was a lovely dinner, you ought to have a meal at my place some time." She put on her coat and headed out the door. "And I do hope your girls will understand, the boys are almost just like them now."

"I'm sure they will, just give it time Wendy" assured the Professor as the adults gave one final wave before Wendy drove off in her car. She sighed from slight relief. That evening didn't go too bad after all.

Inside the house Buttercup asked Blossom "Do you really believe the boys have turned this so-called new leaf? I mean going through a prison sentence like that must've been tough I know, but it couldn't have been that bad, they've been to other prisons before."

"I don't believe it Buttercup. But let's keep an open mind about this. Both Mrs Innlost and the Founders police chief have given us similar stories. Two decent honest people. We'll wait and see for now, and if anything suspicious about the Rowdyruffs comes up, then we'll deliver to them swift painful justice."

 **Wow, I thought my other chapters were long. But now we have the boys actually continuing to go out and fight crime in Founders, as well as a dinner scene, with their mother having to explain everything to the girls, whilst playing along with Bubbles of course. I sorry for the long update, this was a long chapter after all.**

 **RedHood001: Oh there will be a confrontation at some point between them, just not yet;)**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	20. Money mystery

Boomer and Butch had moved their gaming console down to the living room TV, where chief Mccoy, who was their babysitter for the evening, could keep an eye on them.

"So your mother lets you go out in the middle of the night on your own to tangle with criminals but needs someone to babysit you at home?" Mccoy wondered.

"That's the gist of it" Butch shrugged.

"Speaking of which, as soon as mom gets home we'll be heading out" explained Brick, sitting next to his adoptive grandfather on the sofa. "To start our, 'patrol'."

"Well, I'm not gonna stop you. By the way, there's a suspected mob meeting tonight outside a warehouse near the docks, we heard this from a mole. So if you by any chance want to check that out, I dunno" Mccoy suggested.

"We'll, take a look" replied the red leader.

"And uh, if you want to keep up to date on crimes in progress or recent ones, you can take this" the police chief handed the Rowdyruff a small radio, a police radio, which the boy examined.

The front door then opened and Wendy walked through, hanging up her coat.

"Mom you're back!" Boomer flew up and hugged her, which she happily returned smiling.

"Hello boys. Thanks for looking after them dad. Any trouble?"

"No they were as good as gold" the old man told her getting up from the sofa. "How'd it go? Did you explain it to those girls okay? I mean I talked to the leader one over the phone briefly but you probably explained it better."

"They, accepted it. And I assured them that everything was okay with the boys."

"Well then hopefully the relations between them will be, peaceful. They've already had dinner, these three just need a bath now for their, patrol tonight" the chief informed her.

"Thanks again dad, have a goodnight." Wendy hugged him before he left with the boys waving goodbye to him.

"So, how'd they take it?" asked Butch who had stopped playing his game and attention was now focused on what his mother had to say.

"Blossom and Buttercup were definitely, surprised, at the fact I adopted you three" Wendy told them, sitting down next to Brick on the sofa removing her high heels. "And to _my_ surprise, they didn't say all that much. Not to me anyway. Other than asking the Professor if he heard what I said, they just sat there, silent and very confused."

"That's, kinda worrying" stated Brick after hearing his mother's story. "It means they were more shocked than we expected them to be, which could mean they might not believe you."

"I explained to them everything as best as I could, plus Bubbles chimed in a bit, playing along of course, trying to get her sisters to warm up to you, bless her." The woman stood up and headed to the stairs.

Butch groaned. "Can't those Powderpuff sissies accept the fact that even we can experience suffering?"

"Right now they're not a problem. If they ever become one, then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" Brick planned out.

"Yes, well I'll run you three a bath before you go out tonight. And I'd better get changed too." As Wendy headed upstairs, Brick got up, floated down to the lab, and took an older different radio, one used for playing music, and removed the SIM card from the one chief Mccoy gave him, sliding into the bigger device. Now he could keep up to date with ongoing crimes, and know about ones that were currently happening. Kind of like what the girls have with that phone of theirs.

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It was now late at night, and while most of Founders city had it's own artificial lights, most of the docks had to rely on the moon. It wasn't hard for the Rowdyruffs though, they managed to find that meeting the chief informed them about just fine.

Staying silent atop a storage house, the three new superheroes observed two cars pulling up, and two groups of people stepping out of them. One group looked more formal than the other did. "That side must be the mob" Brick observed whispering. The deal began between the two sides.

"So fellas, did ya bring it?" the man at the front of the group of mobsters asked.

"Sure did, it's all in here" a man from the other group patted a briefcase he was holding.

"Oh yeah, let's see" the mobster requested.

The man with the less formal group then proceeded to open the briefcase, revealing stacks of hundred dollar bills, which was enough to make even the ruffs eyes widen.

"Look at all that dough" Butch said in a quiet but surprised tone.

"How did thugs like them get that kind of money?" Boomer wondered, whispering too.

Brick pressed the button on his belt, making the bill of his hat spin around and the small red screen drop down. Hitting 'record' on it, the Rowdyruff leader continued to observe the deal.

"So d'ya get our stuff?" the informal man asked.

"Right here" the mobster clicked his fingers and the mobsters behind him carried out not a briefcase, but some sort of small crate, which they took the lid off to show their 'customers'.

Inside was all scientific equipment, stuff used for experimenting. And from Brick's small red screen in front of his eyes, Wendy could see the whole deal from the computer at home down in the lab. "Beakers syringes and bunsen burners, equipment that is used for chemistry. But, the mob doesn't usually deal out items like this, nor are these the type of thugs to be scientists" she stated.

"Perhaps they're trying to cook up some drugs themselves" suggested Butch.

"Perhaps" was all Brick replied with.

The mobsters down below had the same question. "So uh, what you gonna do with all that science equipment?" asked the head mobster now holding the briefcase with the money.

"Sorry, can't talk about it. The bosses won't allow us to."

"And who might these bosses be?" a threatening voice from above caused the mobsters and thugs look up, only to see three streaks of light dart at them. It all happened so fast, there was no time for the mobsters and thugs to draw their weapons, each one of them from both groups was knocked out cold.

The only one left conscious was the head of the informal group of thugs, the one that offered the briefcase filled with dollar bills. Attempting to crawl away, he felt himself being lifted up into the air and his back slammed against a nearby wall, now faced with a pair of angry red eyes.

"What bosses? Who gave you all this money?" his attacker demanded to know.

The man became visibly terrified. "You're, you're just like my bos-, no, you're those Rowdyruffs aren't you? W-well I can't tell you, they'll kill me!"

"I'll do a lot worse if you don't talk" Brick threatened.

"Even if I did, they never gave me their names, not even an alias, I honestly don't know who they are!" the man confessed, and seeing that there was no point carrying this on anymore, the ruff gave one final blow knocking him out like the rest.

"Mom, I'm sending you the recording of this meeting, inform the police anonymously of this location with that evidence" the ruff leader requested over the comm.

Standing next to the dropped bag of dollar bills, Butch and Boomer stared in amazement at how thugs like this could even obtain this sort of money. "Wow, whoever hired these guys must be loaded" Boomer remarked.

Brick floated over and gave a quick scan of the notes, running it through database files. "Hm, I doubt it" he replied to his blue brother. "This money is stolen. These notes were originally stored away in Townsville's first national bank, but according to the files, they were never moved."

" _You know, there was a robbery at that exact bank the previous night"_ informed Wendy over the comm. _"According to the report, it happened in less than an hour, millions of dollars stolen."_

"The briefcase they brought it in is too old to be traced from where they bought it. Mom, in that anonymous tip to the police, inform them about the stolen money as well."

" _On it Brick."_

"So what now?" questioned Butch.

"I've got a picture of the license plate from the mobsters car, we'll trace that back at home. For now, we'll continue our patrol around the city."

" _The thing that worries me though boys,"_ Wendy spoke over the comm. _"That science research equipment is banned in most countries, including this one. That type, those syringes and scalpels and things like that, was actually used for experimenting on, people."_

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School began the next day, after another successful night of fighting crime. The boys didn't seem too tired this time, as their mother did make them come home at a certain point, and they were ready once again to face socialness of elementary.

It turned out that one of the biggest factors to the boys gaining trust amongst the other students was time. Some of the other students by now had begun to see that the boys wouldn't truly hurt them. It also helped that the two other children, Matt and Rebecca, were starting to hang out with them a lot more.

Not all students and teachers trusted the Rowdyruffs still. Even so that any student that even said something good about the ruffs, was ridiculed and laughed at by the students that still didn't trust them.

In class that morning, Mr Scott was handing out a group task he wanted the kids to work together on. "Okay everyone, I want you to do this in groups, which I'll put you into" he announced, showing the students which tables he wanted them to sit, mixing the class up slightly.

"You're putting us into groups sir? But, but-" one girl protested, glancing slightly at the Rowdyruffs.

"It'll be fun, now move to your seats please" the teacher ushered, and although reluctantly, the kids did as he said.

Brick Boomer and Butch felt slightly awkward at having to float away from their table and approach another, with a bunch of other students sat there whom still weren't too sure of the brothers.

Boomer tried to greet them. "Hey" he said to the table of students but got no response.

"Okay class, now your job is to design a poster of a map of europe. You can use any colour, and I don't expect you to name all the countries, but just try your best" Mr Scott set them off on their task.

On Brick's table, the kids were talking amongst themselves.

"So Romania goes here right?"

"No it''s next to the black sea, somewhere."

"Anyone know the shape of Croatia?"

"That's the boot one isn't it?"

Brick decided to speak up, remembering all those atlas's he'd read in the prison several times. "I think it's something like this" he took a pencil and drew an outline of Croatia.

"Huh, that does fit" one kid said.

"I guess, but what about the others?" Another kid asked.

On Boomer's table, the blue ruff begun colouring in a section of the map. "Hey kid, we're not done outlining" one boy told him before seeing what Boomer had drawn.

"Wait that's, coloured in perfectly" he observed.

"How'd, you learn to draw like that?" a girl asked.

"I, didn't learn" was all Boomer replied, and the other kids watched in amazement as he coloured within all the wrong outlined countries.

Eventually the they finished. Mr Scott walked around the tables, praising the students. "Good job everyone, you all got a good number of the countries right. As I said, I didn't expect you to get them all, but nice artistic work from you guys I see" he pointed to Boomer's table, making the kids sat there smile and one gave a friendly nudge to the ruff.

Mr Scott then got to Brick's table, where even he was surprised at the student's work. "Why that's, a perfect map." The lines were a bit squiggly and the colouring in was scruffy, but it was europe. "You got all forty-five countries?"

"Forty-six sir, counting Kosovo. And that's also if you count the United Kingdom as one country, otherwise there'd be fifty" Brick added.

Mr Scott chuckled. "Well in that case, I'll have to give your table a gold star each." This pleased the students sat next to Brick, and were having second thoughts about sitting apart from the Rowdyruff.

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The bell rang and along with their peers, the three crimefighters floated outside onto the playground. As they were floating their two school friends approached them. "Hey guys!" greeted Matt coming up beside them.

"Hello Matt."

"We heard what you did last night" said Rebecca. "You three knocked out an entire two groups of thugs. Well, one of them was part of the mob but still."

"You heard about that?" asked Butch. "How?"

"Our dad's a police officer, and was one of the first on the scene last night after you three were there" the girl answered.

"Has he mentioned us any other times?" Brick wondered.

"Sometimes, just on the stuff that you guys have done. I don't exactly know what his opinion of you is, but from the accounts we heard, you guys should be classed as heroes."

Brick looked away. "I don't really class myself as a hero."

"What are we then? Vigilantes?" Butch questioned. Brick didn't answer.

"Y'know it's kinda weird, we've heard a lot of stories of you three fighting crime, but all the people on the news are saying is that you're actions are just going to inspire and cause more crime" Matt told them.

"But the exact opposite has been happening! The crime rate's gone down" Boomer protested.

"They say things like you're still covering for possible criminal activities" Matt continued.

"Possible criminal activi-, we're three kids with an adoptive mother and attending an elementary school. And also have superpowers" exclaimed the green ruff.

"Why would they say those things about us Brick?" the blond boy asked his brother.

Brick muttered "I can think of a few reasons."

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At the Utonium household, Bubbles was at the table with a question paper in front of her and a pencil pressed against her lips. The maths homework given by Ms Keane was really stumping her. A measurement problem which she didn't have the first clue on how to solve.

The Professor was busy downstairs in the lab so she couldn't ask him for help, and there was no point asking Buttercup as she didn't even do her homework. So the blue Powerpuff picked up the paper and flew upstairs, opening the door to the sisters bedroom, where Blossom was going over all the recent news reports about the Rowdyruff boys on the computer.

The puff floated over. "Um, Blossom, I'm having some trouble with this maths problem, and it's due tomorrow. Since you've already done your homework, could you help me with mine?"

Her sister didn't answer at first. Only after a few seconds did she respond "Huh? Oh, what is it Bubbles?" she asked not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Well it's just that I have the homework Ms Keane gave us, and I was wondering if you could help me with it?"

"Bubbles can it wait until later? I'm in the middle of important detective work right now, and I have to concentrate" Blossom tried to shoo her off. Not out of contempt, but she had better things to do right now. "I'll help you in a minute alright?"

Bubbles sighed and floated off, wondering how she was going to do this. Well, there was _one_ other person she could ask. Flying downstairs she called out "Professor, I'm just heading out for a while."

"Okay Bubbles just be back for dinner" he replied working on a machine not really paying attention.

Zooming out of the house and other the buildings of Townsville, she travelled a few miles and arrived in a suburban area of Founders.

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"So you times the length and width to find the uh, the…"

"Area" Brick finished the girl's sentence.

"Yeah, area. In centimetres squared right?" she inquired.

"Right. So if the area of the floor on this problem is sixteen centimetres squared, and the carpet is four, how many metres are there left?" The red Rowdyruff was sat cross legged across from the Blue Powerpuff who was sitting the same down in the lab of Wendy's house. The maths paper on the floor between them.

Bubbles did the sum in her head. "Sixteen take four that's.., twelve! Twelve centimetres squared right?"

"Correct. The same with the next problem. You add a table which is two centimetres so that leaves…"

"Ten!" exclaimed the blonde superheroine quite excitedly. "Ten centimetres squared!"

"I think you've got the hang of this now" figured Brick as he stood and floated up, as did Bubbles. "Our mom said you can play with Boomer and Butch in the back yard if you want once you're finished, I think they're playing tag or something" the ruff informed before floating over to the computer next to him.

"Aren't you gonna play too?" asked Bubbles who was about to fly upstairs.

"I've, got work to do" the ruff replied bringing up a screen of license plate numbers. "Maybe you should ask Butch to show more martial arts moves again, even I sometimes ask him to show me some, it's very useful" Brick suggested.

Bubbles was about to fly out, when she stopped and turned around, like she was going to ask something else. "Um, Brick?" she finally said and he looked at her.

"Do you, think I have bad judgement?" she didn't look him in the eye.

There was a brief silence for a few seconds, until the boy responded with "From what I've seen, you tend to hear both sides of the story first, at least in our case you did. And made up your own mind based on those stories and your own experience. That's the kind of judgement everyone should have."

He gave a small smile to the girl which she gratefully returned, and as he turned back to the computer and she turned to leave the room, she whispered a quiet "Thanks" and then zipped outside.

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A new email popped up on Blossom's computer. She had been waiting for an update from Townsville's chief of police, who's team was working on restoring the damaged CCTV footage from the robbery at the town's first national bank. So when the alert came up she was eager to open it.

A video file was attached, but first, she read what the chief had written in the email:

 _Miss Utonium,_

 _We have just about managed to restore the footage as best as we could. It's still somewhat blurry however, since we couldn't fix all of it. But it did pick up three, very quick silhouettes, who appear to have the same powers as you and your sisters. I believe our suspicions have been confirmed._

 _Chief of police._

Blossom opened the video file and watched the footage play out. It was blurry like the chief said, but a while in, three streaks of light zoomed into the bank, damaging most things in there, and ripping the vault door open, throwing it across the room.

Because of the blurry footage, it was hard to tell what shade of colour the light streaks were, but from what the Powerpuff could tell, they were blue green, and possibly red.

The figures, who were the same height as Blossom and her sisters, sped out the room, bags of money in their hands, before the camera was damaged completely.

The footage ended there, and the Pink Powerpuff sat there with a smile etching on her face, as she knew the chief was right, her suspicions had been confirmed. "Gotcha."

 **This chapter's a bit shorter than the last one, I was worried that there wasn't much happening in this chapter, but I suppose it builds up the mystery a bit more. I did plan to write a bit about Butch being in the soccer team but I think I'll save that for later. Anyway, updates coming as soon as possible.**

 **Jinx: Thank you very much, here it is.**

 **Ekka189: The boys are slowly earning trust, it'll just take time of course.**

 **John: We'll soon see who was behind the heist.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	21. Mystery intensifies

"Grab the arms when your opponent strikes, then spin round and take out one of their legs, before flipping them over."

"Butch it's great in all that you're teaching Bubbles this but do you have to use me as a test dummy?" Boomer who was face down in the grass asked muffled.

"Well I can't use myself. Now Bubbles, any questions?"

Bubbles, who was sat down cross legged on the grass, raised her hand. "Yeah, what if it's a giant monster that you're fighting?"

"You have super strength don't you?" Butch reminded cocking his eyebrow.

"Oh, right" the puff remembered.

"Just use that with this same technique and you'll be able to overpower the monster you're fighting" the tough Rowdyruff instructed.

"Well I suppose these moves will be a lot more useful while fighting crime" Bubbles stood up.

"Doesn't that annoying counterpart of mine teach you anything like this?" questioned the green boy.

"Actually no, she just tends to flail her fists around instead" answered Bubbles.

"Y'know I forgot Townsville had monster attacks" said Boomer getting up from the floor holding a baseball. "The crimes here are all done by people and not weird supervillians. So, game of catch anyone?"

"Don't our games of catch normally involve flying up high? People will see Bubbles" Butch pointed out.

"Not if we go up to the clouds" the Powerpuff suggested. The two boys shrugged and all three of them shot up to the sky, where the game of catch ensued.

That baseball must've been thrown several miles over the skies of Founders, barely missing airline flight paths, though it was easy for the children to catch, with their superspeed and all.

"Okay go long! Whoever catches this one I'll let them have that candy bar at the bottom of the fridge. I hate hazelnut anyway." Butch threw it several miles through the clouds.

Both Boomer and Bubbles at the same time yelled "I got it!" and flew in the baseball's direction. Neither of them saw the other darting through the white water vapour as they each made a grab for it, and in the process, bumped heads with each other. The ball fell into Boomer's hand as well as bits of cloud sticking to his face, making it look like he had a beard.

Bubbles rubbed her head and when she saw her counterpart she started giggling. And as Boomer saw it he began laughing too.

"Y'know, you look like Frankenstein's bride with the cloud on _your_ head" he pointed to it and she laughed upon realising.

"Well here" she took some of it in both her hands and placed two bits on the sides of the ruff's neck. "Now you can be Frankenstein."

"Ha ha, I wonder if it's scientifically possible to make cloud angels up here?" Boomer attempted to lie on his back mid air and do so, whilst Bubbles picked up a clump of cloud and formed a ball.

"Or a cloud ball fight?" she attempted to throw it but just stopped mid air. "Hm, maybe not."

"This would be a lot more fun if this stuff wasn't half dirt and dust" said Boomer shaking all the cloud off himself. "Here" he threw the ball to her. "You can have the candy bar in the fridge."

"Really?"

"Yeah I don't like hazelnut either."

That's when the green Rowdyruff caught up with them. "Took a long time didn't ya? I didn't throw that far, nor did I expect you two to be playing in winter wonderlands."

"How did you-"

"Super hearing remember?" Butch tapped the side of his head. "We'd better stop. Mom's probably got dinner ready by now anyway."

The three chemical x users flew back down to the house where Bubbles collected her homework and, after helping herself to the candy bar, said goodbye to the boys and zipped back home to Townsville, her sisters and the Professor oblivious to where she had just been.

The blonde Powerpuff was packing her homework away into her schoolbag when her 'older' sister floated in the room with the biggest smile on her face. "Oh, Bubbles" she spotted her sibling. "Sorry about that earlier, you wanted my help with your homework?"

"No it's okay Blossom, I've done it now."

"Hm, let's see?"

Bubbles handed her the paper with her answers which Blossom expected to be wrong in some way but to her surprise was all correct. "Huh?" she raised an eyebrow. "Very good Bubbles but, did you do all this on your own?"

The blue puff faced her. "Uhhh, yeah." She gave a nervous smile.

Blossom looked at her quizzically. "O-kay" she said slowly and unsure, but just decided to drop it giving her back the paper. "Well, we better see if dinner's ready now anyway. Oh, and tomorrow after school we'll be meeting up with the mayor and police chief at city hall."

"What for?" wondered Bubbles floating alongside her sister.

"Oh it's just that someinformation has come up regarding certain criminals, which we'll talk about what to do tomorrow" Blossom informed.

Bubbles, being as naive as she was, first just assumed Blossom was talking about someone like Mojo or Sedusa, but then remembered what her sister was researching and doing on the computer before she left. How she was going through news article upon news article defaming the boys, calling them all sorts of things.

Bubbles deep inside really hoped it wasn't anything to do with the Rowdyruffs.

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The next day after school however, the light blue Powerpuff's fears were confirmed, when she and her sisters met up with the mayor and Townsville's police chief, who had a laptop set up with the restored CCTV footage of the night of the bank robbery, with the time displayed and everything.

It revealed three unidentifiable figures about the same height as the girls and with the exact same powers, breaking into the bank and stealing notes. The coloured streaks they left behind were roughly red blue and green.

"Ha! I knew it! They're still up to their old tricks after all" exclaimed Buttercup.

"So now that it's been confirmed that it is them, what are you going to do chief?" inquired the Powerpuff leader.

"Well it isn't _confirmed_ that it is the Rowdyruff boys, but they could be arrested on suspicion of robbery" proposed the chief.

"Oh c'mon, who else could've done that?" Buttercup argued.

"You're gonna need help if you're planning to arrest them. I know you caught them before on your own, but I don't think it'll be that easy this time. Let us help you" Blossom offered.

"I can't arrest them anyway Blossom since they're not in my jurisdiction, but once we send chief Mccoy of Founders this footage with a warrant for the boys, he'll have to arrest them for us" explained the chief of Townsville as he got out some papers on the desk.

Meanwhile Bubbles just stared at the screen. There was no way these culprits were the the boys who she played up in the clouds with. Who now lived in a suburban neighbourhood with their adoptive mother, and who dedicated their nightly hours to fighting and solving crime in a crime infested city.

There had to be an explanation, it couldn't be them, could it? Blossom couldn't have been right this whole time could she? No, that went against everything Bubbles had seen. The boys must be incredible actors if that was the case. But there was the other problem, the Rowdyruffs were now suspected of robbery. If they are arrested then it'll ruin the fragile reputation that they're still trying to build up. She had to warn them somehow.

The three girls eventually arrived home after the meeting where Blossom went over the plan with them. "Okay, so when chief Mccoy of Founders city is sent over the video footage, our chief of police will also send him the warrant for the boys arrest, and ask him if he requires our help or not."

"Why even ask? He's gonna _need_ our help apprehending them" said Buttercup.

"I'm just glad that soon poor Mrs Innlost will be free of those little liars as well as society. They'll be sent straight back to that offshore prison like before" the pink leader proclaimed.

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"This is strange" Brick remarked, while observing the computer screen with the rest of his family in the science lab. "Unexpected fire at that offshore prison we were sentenced to."

Boomer and Butch shuddered slightly at the memory of that place.

"Hm, all evidence collected shows that it wasn't started by any of the inmates, but an outside source" Wendy read the information on the screen.

"I wouldn't put past the scumbags who beat us to near death in there to try and escape" Butch commented folding his arms.

"It was just lucky that none of them managed to do that. Every inmate has been moved to another mainland prison which is just as secure, well, except without all the duranium" Brick told them. "Meanwhile the offshore prison has been shut down and it has yet to be decided what's going to happen to it."

Just then a ringing sound then came from the screen. "A skype call? Did we give this computer's number to anyone?" Boomer asked.

"Only one person" Brick said as he brought up the call and the four Innlosts were met with a worried Bubbles on screen.

"Bubbles? Are you okay?" Wendy asked concerned.

"I'm fine Mrs Innlost, but I need to tell you all about something" the Powerpuff explained.

"What is it? Where are your sisters?" asked Brick.

"They're downstairs. I'm using the computer we share in our room, I doubt Blossom or Buttercup will be using their super hearing or x-ray vision on me."

"What do you need to tell us?"

"Last Sunday night there was a bank robbery in Townsville and the police have only just managed to restore the broken CCTV footage, and, well, it seems that the people who did it were three figures our height with chemical x powers!"

"They were what!" all three Rowdyruffs said at the same time.

"I'm emailing you the footage now" the Powerpuff sent it over and they played it on the screen.

All four of them saw what she was talking about. How those three figures smashed the vault doors and stole millions of banknotes.

"And the chief of Townsville's police is going to call your father Mrs Innlost, and ask him to arrest the boys!" Bubbles exclaimed as quietly as she could.

There was a brief pause before Brick figured "I suppose that you and your sisters are going to be sent over from Townsville to quote unquote 'deal with us'?"

"So far, that's the plan" the puff shamefully admitted.

"But it wasn't you three. This robbery happened last Sunday night, but I stayed in contact with you over the comm the entire time, I have done since you started fighting" Wendy reminded, clearly worried for her children's security.

"We were fighting thugs and stopping robbers at liquor stores that night! Weren't we Brick!" Boomer looked over to his brother.

The red ruff looked over the footage for just a few seconds before saying "It's obviously not us. Here's something the Townsville police overlooked." He zoomed in on the figures. "One, those haircuts the figures have don't belong to us, it would be very hard to change them just like that" he gestured.

"Two, if you look at the _shape_ of the figures, specifically the skeletal shape. They're female, not male. And also, thanks to Mom's technology, I can enhance the footage a bit further and if you look at that 'red' streak of light," the footage was now less blurred, and the others could see what it was.

"It's not red, it's, pink?" observed Butch slightly confused.

No one knew quite what to say, even Bubbles. "Just like, my sisters and I. But, we certainly didn't do it" she stated.

"We'll worry about who or what it was later, for now we have to focus on your innocence" Wendy told her boys. Just then the phone rang and she went to answer it. "That, is most probably my father now. He's probably seen that footage and is wondering what the heck is going on."

"If it is him, tell him to get witness statements from all the officers who saw us on that night apprehending criminals. And also the CCTV footage of that liquor store we saved" Brick requested.

"I'll ask him, hopefully it'll clear your names before they're even tarred." Their mother headed upstairs, as Bubbles heard a noise behind her.

"Oh no, that's my sisters, I've gotta go! Good luck you guys" she ended the call.

The three two other ruffs floated up to the keyboard next to their brother. "So who are those figures?" Boomer wondered.

"Like mom said, we'll worry about that later. I think the mob is more important right now" Brick answered.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The next day in Townsville, the Powerpuff girls were once again meeting up with the police chief of Townsville in the mayor's office, awaiting on the news from Founders, and whether they would intervene. Bubbles tried her absolute best not to appear worried or nervous.

"So chief, what's the latest?" asked Buttercup.

"Are we going to take action and assist the Founders police force?" Blossom inquired.

The chief paused. "Actually girls, I'm here to tell you that something has come up which has caused the investigation of the boys to be put on hold."

Blossom and Buttercup were surprised to hear this, and Bubbles opened her mouth to smile and let out a squeal of joy but stopped herself just in time.

"Hold? What could put it on hold?" Blossom questioned.

"Well a few hours after I phoned chief Mccoy he rang back and told me he sent to me CCTV footage of the Rowdyruff boys stopping a robbery at a liquor store." The Townsville chief brought up the laptop and played the footage.

And indeed there were the boys stopping a robbery at the exact same time and date as the bank heist in Townsville. The pink and green puff were dumbfounded. Why would they do this? Who were those other figures?

"Bare in mind I don't know how reliable this store's CCTV is, the time could be wrong, but with the witness statements from officers who saw them, it's unlikely" the chief sighed.

"It, it must be wrong, I mean, who else has powers like we do?" Blossom stammered.

"I don't like it anymore than you girls, I don't believe they've changed either" said the chief. "But there's nothing more we can do for now."

The three girls left, Bubbles feeling very relieved and slightly happier, knowing the boys were safe partly thanks to her.

"It had to be them, it just had to. As far as we know, Mojo hasn't stolen any chemical x from the Professor, so he couldn't have made other versions of us" Blossom figured. "Besides if they were, we would've known about it by now."

"They must've altered that footage at the liquor store" Buttercup suggested. "Somehow."

"Possibly, that's the best theory on who's behind this" Blossom replied.

Bubbles didn't say anything but instead mentally sighed. It was gonna take a lot more to convince her sisters that the boys have indeed changed.

 **Sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter than most, I did originally plan to write a lot more but I wanted to get this updated, as I'm going away for a few days, not too long, and wanted to get this up beforehand. I'll try to make the next one longer, I promise. But anyway, thanks to John and Ekka for reviewing.**

 **To guest: I'm not planning to do a timeskip really as this story focuses on them as kids, but thanks for reviewing anyway.**

 **Rowdyruff boys and Powerpuff girls belong to CN.**


	22. Growing popularity

Brick searched and scanned through all the police reports of the offshore prison fire. It had been a few days now since Bubbles had shown them the security footage of the three figures.

Although he got terrible flashbacks whenever he saw a picture of prison building, he persisted on, analysing all the damage from the forensic photos.

'Hm, the fire originated from electrical wiring. Judging by the photos, it looks like the wires zapped with some sort of energy. Almost, like..' he paused in his thoughts. Brick considered the possibility of those strange three figures who were in the CCTV footage at Townsville's first national bank, being connected to the prison fire somehow.

What possible reason would they have for burning the prison though? Observing the damage, the ruff could tell that the perpetrators didn't care whether inmates were killed or not in the blaze, so why do this then if they didn't want anyone to escape?

"Brick? Brick honey is that you down there?"

The Rowdyruff looked up to see the door to the basement open and his tired looking mother dressed in a robe walk down, a mug of hot coffee in her hand. "What are still doing down here Brick? You said you were going straight to bed after you came back from your patrol and switched everything off" she came up beside him by the computer.

"Eh, I had some work to do" the boy shrugged, continuing to type on the keyboard.

"But it's 3am and you have school in the morning. Plus your brother's first proper soccer game is tomorrow after school. He's been training with them, be that reluctantly, for a while now."

"I know, I'll be there don't worry. I actually hear, from what some of the other kids have said, that he's not that bad, that he's quite a good player."

"We'll find out tomorrow. Now can you finish up any research you're doing and go to bed honey?" Wendy asked her son.

"Sure mom, I just want to know first, did either you or Mark try to create anything with the chemical x whilst experimenting with it?" the ruff wondered.

"You mean, did we create anyone like you? Like those three figures caught on the bank's CCTV footage? I'm sorry Brick, but neither Mark or I created anything like that" explained Wendy, putting her mug of coffee down on the side and pressing a couple of buttons on the keyboard. "Here's the experiments that Mark and I performed with the chemical, at least the ones we recorded down anyway."

She brought up a list on the screen. "As you can see there's nothing. The closest thing Mark ever did with using the chemical on life was experimenting on that donated dead body, a deceased man called Ian, trying to see if it could revive people. Though it never worked, and he stored Ian's body away in the Founders research labs."

She switched the computer off and yawned. "Anyway, you can continue this tomorrow after Butch's game. Superhero or not, a little boy still needs his sleep."

Brick, although feeling like he was being treated like a kid, complied and flew up the stairs as Wendy grabbed her mug and followed him. "C'mon" she said. "I'll tuck you in."

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The boys of 24th street school's, the Rowdyruff's school, soccer team were either warming up, or talking to their parents whom were giving them encouragement for their first game of the season. Including Butch, as Wendy was knelt down to his level making sure his kit was all ready.

Butch was wearing the school's black soccer kit with his last name printed on the back. "I'm fine mom, I put on everything in the locker room."

"I know dear, just making sure. Now, be sure to not use any of your powers during this game. You've been very good at playing fair, and I've seen a few of your training sessions, you're not that bad without them" his mother encouraged

That's when the other kids started running up to the field as the other team from another school did the same. "You'd better go on now Butch, good luck."

The boy then made his way over to where his team mates were, whom were all listening to the coach.

The truth was, Butch was only really doing this because of Wendy, and that she wanted him to socialise more. He hated it at first, but he just couldn't say no to his mother's smiling face. The other kids on the team obviously were cautious about the Rowdyruff joining them, but as practice went on, they started to realise what a great asset he was, that he wasn't actually that bad. Plus he didn't seem like a danger.

"Okay boys this is our first game, so it doesn't really matter who wins this one, but it will give us a good advantage if we do. Remember your positions and team play, and we'll be sure to do well. Ready?" the coach asked.

"Ready!" they all shouted in unison. Although they had practice, this was going to be the first chance that they could show what they're really made of.

"Right, let's get out there" the coach proclaimed and the boys ran onto the pitch, and just as Butch was about to follow them, the coach gave a few final words to him. "You're gonna do great Innlost. You quite impressed me during practice, and that was without your powers."

The green ruff glanced at the other team running onto the field. "Are you sure the other team is okay knowing I'm playing against them coach? It's just that I don't normally get the warmest of welcomes."

The coach looked at the other team as well. "I explained everything to their coach beforehand. They all know you're gonna be here, but don't worry, they've all been assured that you won't do anything against the rules, or dangerous. Anyway, get out there kid, and good luck."

Butch took his position on the field as Wendy sat in the school bleachers along with the other parents, Boomer and Brick sat beside her, causing the parents to scooch away a bit. Wendy didn't notice, but Brick had a small notepad in his hands and a pencil, writing down notes and possible suspects of the latest crimes in Founders.

Butch noticed the kids on the other team whispering to each other and pointing at him. He tried ignore it, knowing they would do that. He just hoped they wouldn't get too scared of him and try to avoid him on the pitch, he at least wanted a challenge.

The whistle blew and the game began. The kids scrambled slightly but maintained their positions. The ball was passed among the boys of 24th street school and they kept possession for a good long while.

It was soon intercepted however and one boy from the opposite team ran down the right wing, Butch's wing, with it. He was tackled though, when said Rowdyruff came up from behind and took it from him. The boy he tackled didn't flinch at the sight of Butch at all, in fact he didn't even see the ruff coming. Butch knew it was always best to get the drop on the enemy.

Running up the field with it, the black haired boy managed to dodge everyone trying to make a tackle. And to his surprise, they weren't afraid to do so. He thought they'd be too frightened to go anywhere near him. Maybe news of him and his brothers becoming heroes was spreading faster than he thought.

Knowing how to maneuver from and dodge a martial arts opponent's blow, he got past every defender. Passing it to another player then running into an open space, the player passed it back and the Rowdyruff shot it at an angle which the goalkeeper couldn't reach. He dived the wrong way anyway. The ball hit the left corner of the net.

The boys on Butch's team cheered as did the parents in the bleachers, especially Wendy and Boomer. Brick looked up from his notepad, and although he didn't show it, he too was slightly amused at his brother's skills.

Butch's team swarmed him of course, patting his back and hugging him in sportsmanlike way. It even made the tough ruff laugh a little.

They broke away and the ball was kicked off again. The other team managed to get down by 24th street school's goal, but it was defended too well. The ball was eventually passed to Butch again, and like last time, he dodged and performed a skill every time an opposite player tried to tackle him. He didn't even give the actual strikers a chance, he kicked the ball once he saw an opening in the defenders, and it flew straight past them to which the goalkeeper didn't see coming, and hit the back of the net.

The same reaction happened again. The ruffs team celebrated with him, holding him up for a few seconds. The parents of the home team were cheering too, Wendy especially.

Two goals already, and Butch hadn't used any of his powers in the slightest. The other team didn't even try to accuse him of doing so, as they were on the field with him, playing alongside him close up, they could tell he wasn't.

It was second half and after about his third goal, scored via header, Butch was smiling and getting up from the floor, after diving to score his header, quietly admitting to himself "I think I'm starting to like this game."

His name was cheered, as it was on the back of his shirt. "Innlost! Innlost! Innlost!"

The game eventually finished, the score 4-1 to 24th street, three of them being scored by the Rowdyruff. The team didn't mind too much that Butch got most of the limelight, they were just happy they'd won.

"Well done boys, that definitely gave us an advantage, it was only the first game of the season, but it was impressive. If we just keep training our future looks bright" the coach complimented and all the boys on the team headed to meet their parents.

"Amazing Butch" the coach said just before the boy was about to leave. "Keep this up and we could win the whole tournament."

The ruff smirked and nodded, not floating but running over to to his brothers and mother.

"You were brilliant" Wendy congratulated kneeling down and hugging her son. "Spending an hour finding soccer shoes that would fit you was indeed worth it. Y'know I'd never thought that I'd be a soccer mom."

"I've never done so much actual running before" Butch commented, now floating alongside his family to the car.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

In the Powerpuff household, Bubbles once again was stuck with her homework. History this time. So she floated upstairs to find her 'older' sister going through police reports from Founders city, given to her by the Townsville police chief, and reading pretty much most of them.

"Um Blossom? Could you uh-?"

"Yeah hang on a sec Bubbles" the busy Powerpuff dismissed almost straight away, not even looking up from the report. "There's gotta be something here" she whispered to herself determined.

Bubbles just slumped her shoulders, knowing it was pointless. So instead, she got the same idea as last time. Telling the Professor she was heading out, the blonde zoomed over to Founders, once again asking for help from the Rowdyruff leader.

"The tides turned, quite literally. The weather in the english channel and north sea caused most of the Spanish armada to crash and break apart from each other" Brick explained.

"And that was _after_ the English sent fire ships at them?" Bubbles inquired, writing this down on a table in the Innlost house's lab.

"Eventually they were forced to sail around Britain and back to Spain, if the Atlantic storms didn't get them that was" Brick floated to the computer, continuing his work.

After Bubbles completed the work, she once again joined Boomer and Butch in some sort of activity. This time it was playing the game console with them. As there were only two controllers, she shared turns with Boomer.

"There! Over there! Use your bow!" Bubbles pointed trying to instruct her counterpart.

"He's not in range" Boomer fiddled with the control.

"Forget it guys, I've got a potion of regeneration" Butch smiled keeping his eyes on the screen.

"Sprint! Sprint!" advised Bubbles and the ruff did so, managing to get close to Butch's character.

"Don't worry Bubbs, my diamond sword's enchanted." Boomer struck his brother's avatar and finished him with the bow and arrow.

The blues cheered and high-fived each other while Butch moaned and threw his controller on the floor in defeat.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

During that night in Founders, a gang of muggers attempted to prey on a couple walking through an alleyway, but they were soon met with flashes of red blue and green who inevitably knocked them out unconscious, dropping them off at a nearby police station.

There was also a shooting going on downtown and the police were pinned down behind their cars, not able to move. However the three superpowered boys dropped down right inbetween the cops and the shooters, the bullets bouncing off their skin as expected. Using heat vision to zap the weapons out the shooters hands, they proceeded to carry out the 'apprehending'.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

At school in the middle of class, a lot of the kids turned to Brick for help with the answers, when Mr Scott wasn't looking of course. The ruff helped them of course, hoping it would help with gaining some trust among the other students. At least that's how he won them over.

Boomer pretty much just acted like himself, all innocent and just playing tag in the playground, flying up and retrieving any frisbees or balls stuck in the trees, or drawing with crayons on the playground gravel with the other kids.

Butch was becoming quite popular with the more sporty children, once they heard and saw how good he was at soccer, and that because of him the school had won three games in a row now.

Tales of the trio's crime fighting spread around, not just the school, but the whole city as well. This was why all information of what school the boys went to, as well as Wendy being their mother, was kept extremely confidential, as to keep any crime lord in the city from using it against them, and for the safety of those who attended and worked at 24th street school.

Thanks to the Rowdyruffs two friends, Matt and Rebecca, whose dad was a policeman, the stories of the boys adventures spread around the school more quickly, gaining them some popularity among most of the students and even teachers.

It even came to the point where the Founders media couldn't deny anymore the boys were fighting crime, but they still spun it anyway they could to make it seem like the Rowdyruffs were still doing harm.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Once again on the night patrol, Brick Boomer and Butch managed to track down two women who had kidnapped two small children and were holding them for ransom. They flew into the old abandoned building the women were hiding in and took them out swiftly.

Boomer floated over to the children, checking if they were okay, which they seemed to be. "They're fine Brick, a little shaken but okay."

"I suppose we should return the stolen car too. It's a good thing you were able to identify what type it was by the tyre tracks" Butch figured as Brick was putting the unconscious criminals in handcuffs.

"Then hacking into the CCTV cameras around Founders to see what last location it was in" Boomer added. "Then just a case of using our super hearing to find them."

"Indeed. You two take the children to their home. I'll take these" Brick instructed as they did so.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Meanwhile on Founders news tonight…

" _Welcome to Founders news at eight, hosted by anchorwoman Janna Winters, live in studio."_ said the announcer.

The anchorwoman smiled and began speaking "Good evening, tonight we'll be debating whether these 'foilings' of crimes throughout the city of Founders by the notorious Rowdyruff boys, truly are genuine or not. On my left is Rich Evans, fellow journalist, and on my right is Lauren Hill, a commentator. So Mr Evans, are the Rowdyruff boys good for Founders?"

"Thanks Janna, well I believe that in terms of methods that these boys use are no better than the criminals and often worse. They will just cause more crime by doing this, inspire hate, and Founders city will just become more of a hellhole than it already is" Evans stated.

"Interesting. Miss Hill, what do you have to say?"

"Thanks Janna. Just to respond to Mr Evans about how the Rowdyruff boys will cause more crime, well if you look at statistics you'll actually see that crime in Founders is at a record breaking low, as well as deaths caused by crime. In fact just an hour ago we learned that these boys saved two children from two captors, who if not for the boys, could've killed these kids" Hill proclaimed.

"And what about the rights of the criminals Miss Hill?" asked the anchorwoman.

"People give up their rights when they break the law. And especially when lives are at stake, I think attacking criminals like that is what's necessary." Hill answered.

"Mr Evans, your response?"

"You can't blame the criminals for how they act Miss Hill" said Evans. "When they live in fear under the threat of being pounded or zapped with heat vision or whatever, it's understandable why they-"

"Mr Evans, criminals were running rampant _before_ the Rowdyruff boys came here, you can't say the boys are responsible for this" Hill interrupted.

"Miss Hill please don't interrupt" reminded the anchorwoman as Mr Evans continued.

"These Rowdyruffs will inspire more impressionable young people to go out and commit acts that are no better than the criminals. We have to be sensitive to offenders."

Miss Hill responded. "A shopkeeper in a convenience store tried reason with a robber last week Mr Evans, sensitive to him if you will, and the robber shot him. You may not know it but there's slow growing support by the average citizens of Founders, of what the Rowdyruffs are doing, including some young people. And what about the Powerpuff girls of Townsville? They fight crime over there and no young people have copied them at all-"

"It's, different, with them Miss Hill" Evans interrupted, though the anchorwoman didn't stop him.

"How so?" asked Miss Hill.

"It just is."

"Many people have been killed, robbed, or lost their homes due to crime over the past few years" Hill continued. "And now the murder rate has gone down, the armed robbery rate has too, bank jobs in the city have decreased, and dozens of lives have been saved. Crimes were happening _way_ before the Rowdyruff boys came to Founders, and suddenly, once they start fighting crime, a lot more people have become less afraid to go out at night, less police officers have been killed on duty, and less family members of people have been lost-"

"I think we have to end it there" interrupted the anchorwoman. "Join us tomorrow night at the same time for a similar discussion."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Chief Mccoy turned off the TV in his office, grunting before turning back to his papers. "Just for the record, Miss Hill was on the money there."

"As long as the school we attend and the fact that Wendy is our mother is kept confidential, I don't care what the media says" Brick replied who was floating behind the chief in the shadows. He had just delivered the two women who had kidnapped the children to the police. "Boomer and Butch took the children back to their worried parents."

"They'll certainly be relieved. So, any news on Sofia Folla?" Mccoy asked, referring to the city's biggest crime lord.

"Just that her niece is getting married soon. If only I knew where. Apparently it's close to a main office of her's. Maybe I could 'obtain' a ledger if I find out" the ruff figured.

"You do what you have to do. Just don't break the rules completely. We operate by the book remember" Carl Mccoy reminded.

"Definitely" was all Brick answered with.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Bubbles had spent the entire Friday afternoon drawing with Boomer. They laid on their stomachs next to each other on the floor, coming up with ideas of what to draw next.

After which the Rowdyruff took her to the park, flying high in the clouds so no one would see Bubbles, and showed her that the squirrel he helped now had a family.

Arriving back at the Innlost house, the counterparts played with their stuffed toys, as Bubbles had brought Octi with her, and Wendy had recently bought Boomer a mouse plushie, which he named Henry.

They came up with funny voices for each of the toys, and occasionally, 'Boomie', would try, and succeed to make Bubbles laugh and giggle.

After the Powerpuff left for the day, the ruff remembered how she mentioned an arts set that she wanted and saved up for, and how last time she did she spent her allowance on food for the boys. She saved up again of course, though she always forgot or just didn't have time to buy it. He wondered.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"I can't believe we let 'em get away!" exclaimed Buttercup as the three sisters flew back into the house that Saturday afternoon.

"Well you could've done something Buttercup! Bubbles and I were busy with that monster" rebutted the puff leader.

"You two couldn't even handle that monster if it wasn't for me. I'm the strongest, so my punches and kicks clearly had the most effect!" argued the tough puff.

"I don't know Buttercup, Bubbles seemed to have that monster under control" Blossom pointed out. "By the way, where did you learn those moves? Dodging the monster's blows and attacks like that?" she asked her blonde sister.

Bubbles tried to think of something to say, but luckily Buttercup just continued.

"It doesn't matter whether Bubbs knew some moves or not, if it wasn't for your stupid plan Blossom then we could've defeated that monster _and_ caught those crooks as well! But nooooo, it was all 'I know what's right' and we had to obey orders" the green puff did a mocking impression of her 'older' sibling.

"We would've defeated that monster, _and_ stopped those crooks if you had just followed orders correctly" Blossom countered, becoming more fed up with Buttercup's attitude.

"First we failed to stop a massive bank robbery at Townsville's first national bank, then we let even more criminals get away! Those ones today weren't the only crooks that we let slip through our fingers, in the past week alone we've failed to stop one in ten robberies or muggings or whatever, what happened to our perfect track record?"

Even Blossom had to admit, recently she and her sisters were not as successful as they used to be with catching crooks, or fighting their super villains. 9 times out of 10 they still won but there was always that one group of criminals that got away or that one fight with a villain that they'd somehow lose.

"Maybe you aren't fit to be leader anymore." Buttercup didn't really mean that, she just wanted to get at her sister.

"Oh, and you'd make a better one? When's the last time you thought of a good plan?" Blossom countered raising her voice slightly.

"I dunno, but I bet it'd be better than your ones!" the green puff yelled back.

"If not for me Buttercup, then we wouldn't win most fights we've had with villains and crooks. There's a reason I make the plans, and it's because I know what's best! I know what's right and what's wrong, and I am right about most things!"

Bubbles backed away slightly, quiet as a mouse. She always hated this, whenever her sisters fought. She just watched the two hoping it wouldn't escalate. The only thing she hated more than her sisters arguing was when they brought her into-

"If it weren't for Bubbles here, using those new moves she somehow learnt, we would've been toast! All because of 'I know best'" Buttercup mocked Blossom again. "Ain't that right Bubbles?"

"I-"

"Don't you bring her into this, she already knows to follow instructions concerning villains, and not go behind my back, don't you Bubbles?" Blossom responded.

"Um-"

"So she's little miss perfect now is she? Oh let's face it, you've always favored her more! You're such a mom sometimes Blossom, always giving us these lectures and whatnot."

"Well maybe you should start making better decisions then Buttercup! You clearly don't know what's best for us!" Blossom shot back.

Meanwhile Bubbles floated back even further, tears beginning to fill her eyes. Whilst her sisters were distracted being at each other's throats, the blonde Powerpuff flew out the door and high up into the sky. Towards the city of Founders.

"And another thing, Bubbles doesn't disobey most orders I give, isn't that right Bubbles? Bubbles?" Blossom noticed that the other puff wasn't there. "Ugh, see what you did Buttercup? Now she's gone!"

"What I did? You were talking about her just as much as I was! Besides she'll be back. I mean where's she gonna go anyway? Oh, and don't talk to me either miss know it all! I can't stand you!" Buttercup would've stormed out the room if she wasn't flying.

"Fine! I don't wanna talk to you either!" the Powerpuff leader shouted as her sister left. She in turn went in the other direction and into the livingroom. So what if she and her sisters failed every now and then? It's not like it was embarrassing or anything.

An open newspaper on the coffee table then caught her eye. One of the few newspapers that was neutral. And a section read:

 _Crime rates in Founders city now down by 40%. The Rowdyruff boys have broken new crime fighting records. Could Founders city have new heroes?_

Upon reading this, the pink Powerpuff became infuriated, and zapped the newspaper right then and there into dust.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Bubbles finally made it to the Innlost household in Founders, wiping her eyes still. She tapped on the bedroom window which Boomer happened to be in. He noticed her and let her in.

"Bubbles? Didn't expect you so soon."

"Yeah, 'sniff' hi Boomie."

"You okay?" the ruff saw her eyes were puffy.

"Yeah, it's just, Blossom and Buttercup were arguing and-, I hate it when they do," she wiped another tear from her eye.

Boomer saw and tried to awkwardly cheer her up. "Ah I'm sure they'll realise they're uh, wrong or something." He wasn't the best at this and put his hand on her shoulder, but she instead just moved forward and buried her face into his shoulder, hugging him. He hugged her back too, and eventually broke away.

The Rowdyruff then remembered. "Y'know there's something downstairs for you, just follow me."

"For me?" Bubbles wiped her face confused.

"Yeah this way" Boomer motioned for her to follow him.

He lead her downstairs where Butch was watching TV, and Brick on the laptop. The only reason he wasn't down in the lab right now was because Wendy was moving some chemicals down there.

"Hey guys look who's here" Boomer floated down.

"Bubbles? Wasn't expecting her this soon" said Butch.

"Suppose we'd better give her the thing we bought yesterday" Brick got up floated out of the room for a second.

"Bought? Bought what?" Bubbles asked but then gasped when she saw Brick float back in. In his hands was that arts and crafts set she had wanted.

"We do kinda owe you Bubbles after helping us when we were homeless" Brick figured with Butch and Boomer now floating by his sides.

"I wanted to have this for ages!" the Powerpuff let out a high pitched squeal. "You boys are the best!" she flew up and hugged all three of them at the same time.

"Well, it was Boomer's idea really" Butch managed to break free as did Brick.

"Aw thank you Boomie" she was hugging mainly him now, and he just gave a look to his brothers as to sarcastically say 'thanks'.

Meanwhile Brick floated into the kitchen and noticed an open letter as he did. It caught his eye for some reason and he realised it wasn't a letter, but an invitation.

It was at that point Wendy came back up from the lab, throwing silicone gloves into the bin.

"Mom, this invitation" Brick got her attention.

"Hm? Oh Brick, yes the invitation. Oh, _that_ invitation. Yeah.."

Brick handed it to her. "It's a wedding invitation, to Sofia Folla's niece's wedding."

"I know. This was waiting for me at the post office, which thankfully means the mob doesn't have our address." She knew Brick wanted an explanation.

"You see Brick, being as high up as Mark was. The best and most well known scientist this city's had, a lot of crime lords used to try and gain favour with him, trying to brown nose him, for his medical knowledge mainly."

"Like they do with corrupt cops and the mayor" Brick stated.

"Exactly. Mark not once accepted any bribes or favours of course, he couldn't be bought. But now it looks like they're trying to do the same with me. Mark's widow, and the police chief's daughter. But I have no intention of going."

The ruff thought for a second "Hm, maybe you should."

"I should?" repeated his mother.

"Mom I know it's a lot to ask, but if you go to this wedding, you could find out vital information on Folla."

 **Hey everyone. I know I said it would only be a few days that I would be away, which it was, but I was also kinda busy too so this chapter took longer than expected. But it's a nice lengthy one to make up for it. Thanks for the patience everyone. Oh and thanks to John, Vip189 and Bigou for reviewing.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	23. Mob wedding

Blossom flew over her city and towards the lair of her and her sisters most frequent nemesis, Mojo Jojo, atop the volcano. After all these years she still found it strange how there even was a volcano right next to Townsville. But the reason she was heading there, was to get some information that would confirm her suspicions.

Even after all this time, she was still convinced that there was no way the boys could've deceived everyone on massive scale like this without some sort of genius behind it. It would've taken a genius to deceive someone as smart as Mrs Innlost. And who else would it be other than Mojo, since he did after all create them, and probably reconciled with the boys after they were released from prison.

Although they were adopted by HIM at one point, and deception was a part of his M.O. But if it was the red devil himself, he wouldn't have dragged it out for this long. He couldn't have been able to resist revealing himself to the girls by now. Plus he would've hated all those supposed 'heroic acts' that the Rowdyruffs were doing in Founders, even if it was a part of his plan. Yes even at this point, the pink Powerpuff couldn't deny that the boys were fighting and putting down crime over in that city, but it couldn't be because they wanted to. What possible reason would they have for turning against crime? It had to be a Mojo plot.

Arriving at his laboratory, after smashing a hole into his wall, she called out his name. "Mojo!"

The startled primate, who at this moment was just sitting down at a table to have lunch, fell off his chair with the food on his plate flying everywhere. "What in blue blazes? Who dares, 'cough, cough', disturb Mojo Jojo, when he's just about to enjoy some freshly cooked Salmon?"

The Powerpuff landed not too far away from him revealing herself.

"Oh, Blossom, it's only you" the monkey said calmly, standing up and dusting himself off. He then exclaimed "How dare you enter my-!"

"Cut it Mojo!" Blossom interrupted, clearly not in a mood to mess around. "I came here for information. Tell me, what do you know about the Rowdyruff boys?" She decided to probe him for information first, not giving away that she suspected him of being behind them.

"The Rowdyruffs boys? I don't know anything beyond after that of when they left me. Myself and that crossdressing devil, what they're doing now is none of my business. And I certainly couldn't be less proud of it."

"Oh don't act all innocent Mojo, there has to be some sort of brain behind what they're planning!" Blossom insisted.

"They're planning something? Judging by what they have done other there in the city of Founders, all they seem to be doing is, as despicable as I find it, locking up criminals and saving lives. Similar to what you girls do here. I can't believe, that my own creations, would do something as revolting as…"

Blossom rolled her large eyes. She knew he was ranting just to make it seem like he had no involvement. Ranting longer than he usually would anyway. "There's no point denying it Mojo" she interrupted again. "You reconciled with the boys after they were released. You ordered them to trick Mrs Innlost into adopting them. You instructed them to fight crime temporarily in Founders city, in order to deceive everyone into thinking they're heroes, like that Major Man did. And just when everyone thinks it's safe, they help you take over both Founders and Townsville!"

There was a pause. "Mrs Innlost?" was all Mojo said back. "As in, Mrs _Mark_ Innlost?"

"Um, yeah?"

"The widow of the creator of chemical x" Mojo sated.

"Did you, know him personally?" questioned the Powerpuff.

"No, I did not know him personally. But I knew who he was. Every aspiring genius in the area knows who he is. If not for him neither you or I would be here now. "

Despite Mojo seeming genuinely surprised, Blossom still couldn't get the nagging feeling of him still being behind it all out of her head. "Is, that why you chose her to adopt them, because of her husband creating chemical x?" Even saying this she sounded more doubtful.

"Even for a genius like myself, I wouldn't know where to start looking for Mr Innlost's widow. Blossom, you've known me for a long time now, you would know, even if it was for a long complicated plot to deceive everyone, I couldn't stand it for my boys to do all these heroic acts for this long. I would eventually snap to order them to do something wretched, to counteract it all" Mojo reasoned.

"I, I guess" Blossom was now starting to fully realise, despite the two being on opposite sides, that what Mojo was saying would've been true. He wouldn't be able to handle his 'sons' doing all these good deeds for this long. "So, you've really had no contact with them in years?"

"No. Not since I fought for custody over them with HIM. I might as well have let that devil have them now." The primate then turned to the Powerpuff. "Y'know, you seem awfully convinced that the boys haven't changed at all, even with all the crime fighting they're doing now. Apparently Founders city's crime rate is at a record low because of them."

"That's just a ploy, it must be. I mean why would they even want to change? They never did anything good in Townsville" the pink puff argued.

"Perhaps being sent to that prison put them off crime forever" Mojo shrugged.

"But why fight crime?" Blossom persisted.

"Revenge perhaps? I hope so, that would mean there still is a shred of evil in them after all. Or there's the less, hopeful, reason. They've started to care about the lives of citizens?" the monkey theorised.

"Care about citizens? The Rowdyruffs? What are you going to guess next, that Bubbles is secretly meeting with them or something? Ha!" the puff dismissed in a sarcastic tone. Not believing a word of that theory.

She continued. "Have you seen those news reports coming from that city? Their actions and rhetoric will only cause more crime, and they've damaged quite a lot of property and endangered several citizens lives in their fights!"

"Is that what the news said?" Mojo calmly questioned.

Blossom didn't answer, but instead looked away.

"If you just look at amateur captured footage on the internet, I think you'll find all that 'damaging of property and endangering citizens' has been exaggerated. It seems to me you're hearing what you want to hear. Now if you'll be so kind, I have a big hole in my wall to fix" the supervillain pointed to the part where the puff had entered.

Having nothing more to say, the superheroine simply just said "Stay out of trouble" the flew out of the lair. So what now? If Mojo wasn't behind them, then how could they possibly-? They couldn't have been plotting by themselves, they couldn't. They were too dumb for that. Like she rightfully said to Brick just before he was taken to that offshore prison outside the courtroom, he'll never compare to her.

But they had to have been behind that bank robbery in Townsville the other night. Who else could it have been?

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Evening in the city of Founders, and in a more fancier, upper class area of the city, the wedding reception of the niece of the mob boss, Sofia Folla, was being held. The building it was being held in was almost like a country club, except it wasn't in the country. In an outside area, standing close to a pillar and holding a glass of champagne in her hand, the secret mother of the Rowdyruffs observed the people around her.

She had accepted the invitation after all, going alone of course. She wore a purple dress this time, and occasionally mingled with the other guests. And it was depressing in a way, as just being here reminded her of how corrupt the city still was.

There were one or two judges, a couple of off duty police officers, a few politicians, even the mayor herself was here. Typical.

Other than that the regular mob crowd was here as well, and the bride and groom of course. Folla's niece and her new husband. Although they were part of a crime family, Wendy couldn't help but gaze at them both, looking so happy together. She had a longing expression, and could not help but see herself and Mark where Folla's niece and her husband were now, those exact same expressions of happiness on their faces.

Just then, a quiet beeping came from her small makeup mirror and powder. She turned away to answer, as it would look strange if she was just talking to thin air.

" _Mom? Is this radio working alright?"_ Brick's voice came over on the small compact mirror.

"It's fine Brick. I haven't seen Folla around outside yet."

" _Damn it. That means she's probably in her office."_

"That's where she'd keep her ledgers right? Most likely anyway. Well I'll look around inside the building. Some of the guests are walking in and out of there. I'll casually walk in and see where her office is, and if it's occupied."

Wendy closed her makeup mirror and gradually made her way inside, nodding to the other guests, who were mostly corrupt city officials, as she walked past. It was an old fancy building with a courtyard, and the powerful mob boss had a separate office here.

After walking down some hallways, discreetly peeking through the cracks in doors to see which room it would be. Finally, she found a room where the door was slightly ajar, and saw a desk with some papers and pens, which on closer inspection, stepping into the empty room, Wendy saw Sofia Folla's signature on the papers, with some other documents and letters addressed to the mobster. This had to be it, and the scientist opened up her makeup mirror.

"Brick, I think I've found Folla's office, and there's a safe, just behind a plant by the wall" she whispered and knelt down next to the safe.

" _Okay, I put the safe cracker device in your handbag"_ Brick responded, and Wendy pulled out a nail filer, which she slid through the side of the safe and opened it up. Peering inside, she laid eyes on some sort of book.

Picking it up she opened and flipped through the pages and smiled at what she saw. "Brick, this is it. This is a ledger of all the drug deals Folla's made over the past two years. A list of orders and payment for them, and profit she's made via selling them."

" _I knew she'd keep it physically written in a book. That way it couldn't be hacked online."_

"And she kept it in this building which was less likely to be searched." The Rowdyruff mother closed the safe and got up to leave the room. "I'll stay a bit longer just to avoid suspicion, then I'll-" she heard voices coming from around the corner, heading in her direction.

"Brick, there's people coming" she whispered, quickly hiding the ledger in her handbag, being just small enough to fit.

" _Remember, if you get into any trouble, just give the signal"_ her son told her sounding worried.

Wendy pretended to be walking through the hallway casually, when from around the corner came none other than the mob boss Sofia Folla herself, two bodyguards behind her. The scientist woman fought not to let out a gasp.

"Oh, Mrs Innlost" the mobster in a surprised but also serious tone. Folla had jet black hair tied up in a pony tail, skin tone of someone from southern europe and was wearing a dress for the special occasion.

Wendy straightened herself. "Oh hello Miss Folla. I was just coming back from the ladies room and I think I got turned around."

The mobster paused and looked her up and down quickly. She then put on a smile. "Not to worry Mrs Innlost, I'm glad you're here actually, I've been wanting to speak to you." She put a hand on Wendy's shoulder and lead her to her office door.

"Oh really? What about Miss Folla?" the ruff mother tried to sound as innocent as she could.

"I'll explain in here Mrs Innlost. Wait here for me boys" Folla instructed her bodyguards to wait outside the door.

Turning on the light to the room Wendy was just in, Folla offered her a seat opposite the desk to where she sat. "First I want to thank you Mrs Innlost, for coming to my niece's wedding. It only felt right to invite the widow of this city's greatest scientist. Not to mention the daughter of the police chief." The mobster sounded very classy and charming. "My sincere condolences of what happened to your husband by the way."

"Thank you, Miss Folla."

"Truly an intelligent man. Both myself and my father, when he used run the family business, always tried to talk to Mark and befriend him. We figured that his knowledge of chemistry would come in handy for our 'business'." The mob boss poured herself and Wendy a drink, offering it to her.

"Though he never accepted our job offer. Worked for the city's government instead, that I understand, you do too."

"Yes I do, and, with respect miss Folla, if you're going to offer _me_ a chance to work for you-"

Folla interrupted the scientist. "Not necessarily 'work' for us Mrs Innlost, but, perhaps you give us advice on some of the products we import every now and then? We pay very handsomely."

Brick, back at the lab at home, could hear every word the two women were saying, tesned up slightly due to the situation his mother was in. But then Folla said something which caught his intrigue.

"Especially currently with a client of mine. You see, he placed an order for medical equipment, him and three 'super powered' children." She laughed. "First we have these Rowdyruff boys or whatever, ruining things in Founders, then these other super powered girls appear, ones that almost look like those Powerpuffs in Townsville. And you should see their boss."

"Their boss?" Wendy inquired.

"I only met him once. Guy looked like a corpse. But, I've probably said too much already. So, would you like to be an advisor to us Mrs Innlost?"

Raising her hand respectfully, and a little nervous, the widow to the great scientist answered "With respect Miss Folla, after Mark passed I only wanted to lead a quiet life, away from all the cri- I mean businesses, affairs and politics. I don't really want to be up on the big city stage with all the big players. I only want a peaceful life."

There was a pause after Wendy's answer, and she anxiously rubbed her wrist, hoping this would play out well. Even if it didn't, just one press of a button on her watch would send a signal to the boys, and they would come to her aid immediately. Even if it revealed that she was the Rowdyruff mother, Brick insisted anyway for her safety.

"Hm, that's disappointing Mrs Innlost. But I can respect your decision. However, the offer is still open if you should change your mind." Folla stood up and walked towards the door and opened it.

Wendy followed her. "Thank you Miss Folla. If I do I'll contact you somehow. But for now a quiet life is what's best for me."

"Do stay for a bit longer Mrs Innlost, try the cannoli, and don't be afraid to ask for another glass of champagne" the mob leader shook her hand before seeing her out, and as Folla's bodyguards followed their employer back inside the office, Wendy checked around to see if there was anybody around, then instantly pulled out her makeup mirror again.

"Brick? Brick I'm out of the office, I'm staying for another ten minutes, then I'm leaving."

" _Is the ledger still with you?"_

"Yes, right here in my bag."

" _Okay. And are you alright mom?"_

"Don't worry hun, I'm perfectly fine. I'll be home soon."

" _Alright see you there."_ Brick turned away from the computer and saw Butch and Boomer flying down into the lab, as they had just been out themselves. "Did you get it?" the leader brother asked.

"It's all here" Butch held up a smartphone and swiped across pictures taken of the Founders city mayor at the wedding party, associating with the gangsters and crime lords. "If the mayor ever tells Folla about Wendy being our mom then these go straight up on the internet."

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"It's all here" the red ruff flicked through the pages of the ledger that contained proof for the illegal dealing and smuggling activities of the mob. He was with all the four of the family now down in the lab.

"Of course with this we can only get them on illegal dealing and smuggling charges" Wendy wearing her jacket over her dress reminded, having just gotten home from the party.

"Yeah but all the police gotta do is promise the mobster punks involved in this less jail time and they'll sing like canaries" proclaimed Butch.

"In other words they'll testify in court about the crimes such as murder and attempted murder. I'm going to give this to chief Mccoy, and the three of us are going to help him on Folla's and the mob's arrest" announced Brick.

"That's going to be very dangerous" their mother warned.

"Precisely. And besides" said the ruff leader. "I want to find out what Folla meant when she said 'superpowered kids and their boss'."

Hey **guys! Don't really know what to say here, just that this was a chapter I enjoyed writing, and a build up on the mystery. Thanks to those four who reviewed. Next chapter coming asap.**

 **Rowdyruff boys and Powerpuff girls belong to CN.**


	24. Mob arrest and back in Townsville

The night after the mob wedding in Founders city. The police, whose cars were disguised as normal cars, were all parked outside the office building they tracked Sofia Folla to, which wasn't hard to find given her power and status she could practically sit in the heart of the city and no one would touch her, until now anyway.

Chief Mccoy sat in the driver's seat of his disguised squad car on the radio to his officers. "Okay we all know the plan. Whoever opens fire on a police officer inside must be arrested. Folla is the priority target, and our main job is to arrest her, and provide cover."

" _Cover for who sir?"_ the officer on the radio asked.

"Only send your men up when I say Chief" a voice from a pair of floating red eyes said from behind Mccoy. "If it's Folla you're after, there'll be blood."

"She certainly won't let us arrest her that easily. Just do what you have to do and I'll coordinate my men as best I can to help you" the chief replied.

The pair of eyes nodded, and zoomed out of the window leaving a red streak to meet up with his brothers beside the building. "So what have we got?" he asked.

"Just reception and staff on the lower floors. All the armed mobsters are on the upper floors. You know, the ones in suits with the handguns" Boomer explained using his x-ray vision.

"Folla's on the top floor in her office. Y'know, I don't understand why we just fly up to her office, burst in and take her and hand her to the police?" Butch wondered.

"Because it's not just that is going to be arrested, all the mobsters who are working for her have to be taken too." explained Brick, turning towards the ventilation shaft entrance of the building. "Now, follow me quietly."

Inside the dimly lit office room, there were only two mobsters walking around, though neither saw the ruffs sneak up and knock them out from behind. Both fell to the floor unconscious.

"Try to be as quiet as possible. The more thugs we take out the less blood there'll be for when the police come in" Brick whispered to the other two. "Boomer, you take this floor and check for any mobsters that might be below this one. Butch, you help me with the upper floors" the red Rowdyruff ordered and the three split off.

Keeping out of sight of the security cameras, Brick and Butch floated discreetly through the shadows, picking off mobsters one by one.

Of course this did not go unnoticed, the other mobster thugs heard their colleagues be taken out. "Markey? Markey you there?" one mobster drew a handgun from his suit as another followed behind him. "Jack get the other guys, somethin' fishy's going on 'ere."

Just then two flashes of green and red zipped past them and the mobsters found their handguns were gone. "What the hell-?" they both turned just in time to see the two boys fly towards them and then going all black.

"It came from in here!" Brick and Butch heard a voice and both darted out of sight, when the doors to the room burst open and a gang of the mobster henchman stepped inside, guns all drawn. "What happened to these guys?"

"You don't think it's them, Rowdy, boys or whatever?" another unsure mobster asked.

"If it is they ain't gettin' outta here alive. Spread out" the head one ordered.

The ruff brothers remained watching in the shadows. "Damn, there's too many in the same place to pick off one at a time" Butch whispered quietly enough at a level for Brick only with his super hearing to hear.

The red brother thought for a second. "I'll knock their weapons out of their hands, you can take care of them from there." He then aimed his arm, and with that new power they had firing balls of energy out their hands, he fired several shots at the handguns, destroying them all.

Before the gangsters could react, Butch dropped down right in the middle of them, proceeding to engage all of them in hand to hand combat. He won the scrap of course and was joined again by his leader. Both again heard something from behind in the corridor. This time they recognised the voice.

"What's going on here? Why aren't those guys answering?" Sofia Folla was walking behind more of her thugs with weapons and all them saw the two boys over the unconscious goons.

"That's why boss!"

"It's them! Shoot them! Or stall them at least." Folla ran back down the corridor as the thugs opened fire on the boys. The bullets bounced off them of course, and the ruffs were quick to take their opponents out.

Brick got onto a comm he had in his belt. "Chief, Folla knows were here. You have to breach now." He turned to Butch. "The police are going to need a lot of help, go down and help Boomer."

Butch nodded and obeyed, flying down to the lower levels. Brick decided to pursue Folla, using his x-ray vision to see that she was heading to her office on the top floor. Working his way through groups of thugs on the upper levels, he finally made it to Folla's office. Just before he opened the door however, he stopped and the red screen from the bill of his hat dropped down in front of his eyes.

Through the screen he could see the door was rigged to detonate a small explosion if opened. The screen went back up and he disabled the explosive with a blast from his heat vision. The door creaked open and he floated inside to see the mob boss loading a small lightweight pistol in her hand.

This was probably the first time the ruff had met her in person. The raven haired woman wearing a pink suit dress finished loading her weapon. "Damn, how'd you see that explosive? Oh right, superpowers."

"Folla, you're coming with me" the Rowdyruff cut straight to the point.

Folla gave a small chuckle. "On what grounds do you have to arrest me boy?"

"We have a ledger containing your deals, laundering, and racketeering, the police have a warrant for your arrest."

"You're no cop boy, you can't arrest me."

"No, but I can leave you for the police who can."

"Hm, we'll see." Folla pointed her pistol at the ruff and fired.

Brick flew to the right slightly but the bullet just grazed his left hand, and surprisingly it cut him. He was bleeding. He then realised, that was a duranium bullet. How did she get that? Thank goodness for the duranium proof lined armour in his shirt.

She shot at him again, and some of the bullets managed to hit him but thanks to the armour they bounced off. With a fling of his arm a ball of energy flew and hit the pistol out of Folla's hand.

"Ah!" she held her hand and glared at the Rowdyruff, before reaching for something underneath her desk that turned out to be a grenade. "I think I'll be leaving now." She pulled out the key and threw in the middle of the room, running to the door on the side.

Acting very quickly, Brick flew up, grabbed the grenade and threw it at the balcony door. It exploded and the shock knocked over Folla before she could reach the door. Coughing and trying to get up, she was suddenly grabbed by her shirt and pulled over to the damaged balcony, being held in the air by Brick.

"The police are going to arrest you Folla, but first I want you to tell me, who are those people you're selling the medical equipment to? I saw a deal between your mob and a group of thugs, whom I interrogated, and they revealed there were people just like me and my brothers."

"Why should I tell you anything?" Folla demanded but Brick just shook her as he dangled her over the edge.

"I assume you want to live right? Well I'm looking for answers, how's that for a deal?" The red ruff said in a low calm but threatening voice.

Folla swallowed her fear and saved face. "There were three kids like you, but they were girls. Not those puffs or whatever from Townsville, they were different ones. Pink blue and green as well. The pink one had a large ribbon in her hair, and the green one had spiked bracelets on her wrists."

Brick had no idea who this was. He decided to ask about the 'boss' of these girls, whom he heard her mention when Wendy talked to her. "Was there anyone else?"

Folla held onto Brick's arm. "There was, this guy. The one I was dealing with. Looked like a freakin' corpse. And I think, I think he had the same powers as you and those girls."

"He what? How?"

"Well he lifted several boxes of the 'merchandise' by himself, which was surprising because he didn't exactly look like the bodybuilder type. Plus he had heat vision."

The Rowdyruff then heard the police coming up and to the office. He just had one more question to ask. "What did they want with all of that?"

"They once said-" Folla grunted. "That, they had a surprise in store for the Powerpuff girls. They're in Townsville right now, planning, with all that equipment." Folla couldn't help but give a sly evil laugh, which wasn't a good idea since she was still being dangled over the edge by the ruff.

Brick had heard enough. He pulled the mob boss back inside the building and instead punched her down to the floor, handcuffing one of her hands to the wreckage of the wall.

The cops burst in at that moment as did chief Mccoy, seeing what that explosion was they heard downstairs. "Good god, what happened in here?"

"Just take Folla into custody, I'm going to speak to my brothers. Are they okay?" The ruff asked as he floated past the chief.

"Yeah yeah they're fine, they did a pretty good job at covering us" Mccoy replied. Brick gave a small smile before floating outside as the officers arrested Folla.

Floating past several cops arresting thugs, some of whom were unconscious, the ruff leader saw his two brothers helping some officers. They spotted him. "Brick we did it! We got her! Well, you got her." Boomer flew to him.

"We heard from the cop's radio you managed to apprehend the wench, nice going buddy" Butch patted his back.

"Well I couldn't have done without you two. Why don't you help the officers 'escort' these mobsters to the squad cars."

" _Well done boys! I'm proud of you all."_ Their mother's voice came on the comm. _"We've apprehended the city's biggest crime lord. But Brick,"_ Wendy sounded serious, and worried. _"What Folla said to you when you interrogated her, about those she was dealing with. We heard it on the comm."_

"We heard it too bro." said Butch.

"What did she mean by that guy she was dealing with had chemical x powers?" wondered Boomer.

The red Rowdyruff paused. "Just help the officers for now, we'll figure it out later." He the floated past his brothers and further down the corridor.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Floating on top of the building where the fight had just taken place, Brick stared out at the beautiful Founders city skyline that was all lit up like a christmas tree. Though his mind was on something else, trying to piece together the information he had gotten out of Folla. She sounded genuine when she told him, so it probably wasn't a lie.

But three superpowered girls who weren't the Powerpuffs? And someone leading them who had those powers as well? Was it possible Mojo had created three new chemical x kids to help him? No because the person leading them was a human. Someone who looked like a corpse.

This was strange, no villain from Townsville fitted this situation. Apart from HIM maybe who could've disguised himself, but why would he disguise himself to look like a decaying person? Plus he would most likely want revenge on both Brick and his brothers, and the girls. But this man and the superpowered children were only after the Powerpuffs for some reason.

This, chemical x corpse or whatever-, wait, a corpse with chemical x. Brick's eyes widened. The chemical x was originally meant to revive life. He remembered what Wendy had said not too long ago.

" _He spent years working to create it. Down in that very lab. When someone who tragically died and donated his body, Ian, I believe the person's name was, Mark used it to test the chemical on. It didn't work of course, and the body is still frozen up in a capsule at the Founders research lab."_

 _"As you can see there's nothing. The closest thing Mark ever did with using the chemical on life was experimenting on that donated dead body, a deceased man called Ian, trying to see if it could revive people. Though it never worked, and he stored Ian's body away in the Founders research labs."_

The red Rowdyruff wasted no time, he darted across the sky towards the research labs. Luckily he remembered from a previous conversation with Wendy which lab and capsule it was. He arrived and snuck in through a vent, floating towards a storage room.

Once inside the room, he looked around a saw the certain capsule he was looking for, and the door to it, was torn off it's hinges, with what seemed to be with almost superhuman strength.

The body was gone. A revived man and three superpowered girls were after the Powerpuffs.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Down in the lab of the Innlost house, Boomer Butch and Wendy were going the police reports of the night, as well as discussing what Folla had revealed.

"Who else could have chemical x other than us and the Powerpuffs?" asked Boomer.

"Whoever it is they have a large stash of medical equipment-" Wendy was saying when suddenly Brick came through the door and floated down the stairs.

"I know who it is" he said floating straight to the computer.

"What? Really? Who?" inquired Butch.

"Mom, do you remember how you told me that Mark experimented on a donated dead body? And how the chemical was originally meant to revive life?" the leader Rowdyruff turned to her.

"Well yes I-, wait Brick are you saying-?"

"I checked the capsule just now, the body's gone" Brick explained as he brought up this 'Ian's' files on the computer.

"Wait, who's this?" Butch questioned, as him and Boomer were both confused.

Brick proceeded to explain everything to them, and the two started to get it. "And this guy's in Townsville right now?" Butch inquired.

"Mom you said that sort of medical equipment was illegal because it was used to experiment on people?" Brick remembered.

"Yes, that type of equipment. And this Ian is after the girls with it. Oh dear lord!" Wendy realised, panicked slightly.

"We gotta skype Bubbles quick!" said Boomer.

"At this time of night? They'll be asleep. Besides how do we know it'll be Bubbles who'll answer?" Butch reminded.

"I'll call John and tell him everything. I doubt Ian will go after the girls tonight, but we'd better head to Townsville tomorrow morning and try to find him." Wendy headed to the door upstairs. "I hope John hasn't gone to sleep yet either."

"Does that mean we've gotta search around Townsville for these 'other' superpowered girls, and this Ian guy?" Boomer inquired.

"We haven't got to act as bodyguards for the puffs do we?" Butch moaned.

"They can take care of themselves. Only if they're really in danger will we intervene" Brick proclaimed.

"Y'know, pinky and green aren't gonna like us three going back to Townsville" reminded the green ruff.

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Floating on top a building in their city of origin, the boys looked over the rooftops that they had not seen in years. It was a strange feeling to the seven year olds, and one that made them feel slightly scared even. They all knew they would not be welcomed by anybody here, and would have to keep out of sight during their search. Which will be difficult.

"I still can't believe we're here actually doing something to save those girls. Bubbles maybe, but the other two? Why should we even care what happens to our so called 'old enemies' who probably hate our guts?" Butch whined but no one responded to him.

"Mom's gone ahead to the Utonium household to explain things in more detail. But for now, we search the city for the suspects" ordered the leader.

"Where do we even start?" the blue ruff wondered.

"We've been round a few hideouts in this town, I don't know if they've changed in the time we've been gone but it's a good start." Brick turned to the other two. "Try not to let anyone see you, and we'll meet up back here if we don't find anything."

The brothers nodded, and all split up to go into the city that all three knew would not treat them kindly.

 **Hello everyone, next chapter for you all. I particularly enjoyed writing this one, especially the confrontation between Brick and Folla, I know you guys have been waiting to find out who's behind it all. And next chapter we'll finally see a face to face confrontation between all three puffs and three ruffs. It's gonna be interesting.**

 **Thanks to Vip189, John, and RedHood001 for reviewing, and Peanutball369, your review made my day.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	25. Reunion

"And that's basically who's after your girls. My boys are here right now trying to find them, and hopefully with some assistance, they'll be able to." Wendy had just finished explaining everything to the Professor at the Utonium household. She had arrived not too long ago after her sons had set out by themselves into the city.

"And you're sure this, Ian, person is in Townsville?" John Utonium asked wanting to be sure.

"Yes, I'll show you the evidence now if you want" she pulled out her phone, about to play the recording of Brick's interrogation of Folla.

"Wait wait wait a second, are you saying you let the Rowdyruff boys into Townsville?" Blossom who, with her sisters, were in the same room as the two adults.

"Don't worry Blossom, I know you still have your doubts but believe me, you can trust them. They're out there right now looking for these other superpowered kids in order to protect you" Wendy tried to assure. She knew it was a risky move to bring her boys into this town. Not just because of Blossom and Buttercup but all the citizens here who still didn't exactly trust them either.

She and Bubbles shared a quick glance, as if Wendy was asking the blonde girl 'could you keep them calm?'.

And the blonde gave a look back as to say 'I'll try'.

The two adults then headed downstairs to look over the evidence in John's lab, leaving the three Powerpuffs to talk in the living room.

"I don't like that" the pink leader announced. "The boys are back in this city, unattended, who knows what they might do?"

"We gotta go out, we gotta see what they're up to" proclaimed Buttercup.

"N-now hold on girls, remember what Mrs Innlost said, the boys are only trying to help us by hunting down these other superpowered kids who are hiding in this city" Bubbles did her best to seem as innocent as possible.

"Oh please, you don't actually believe that sob story do ya? That's probably just a cover, and a very bad one, for those crimes such as the bank robbery all that while ago" Buttercup dismissed straight away.

"But Mrs Innlost even said this was true. How could they fool someone as smart as her?" the blonde puff said this in a tone that made her sound naive, as to avoid making it seem that she was deliberately defending the boys. Nethertheless, her argument was a good one, and even Blossom had to think about that.

"Hm, true" she said. "Though it still is possible they're intimidating Mrs Innlost into saying this, as well as the police force in Founders city, to fabricate reports of them being somewhere else at the time or the robbery."

Bubbles resisted the urge to smack her forehead as the frustration built up inside her. Even with all the evidence suggesting otherwise, her sister still refused to believe that the Rowdyruff boys may actually not be the bad guys anymore.

"I'm going to talk to Mrs Innlost seriously, one to one" Blossom continued. "And ask her honestly if the boys are truly threatening her-"

Just then their special phone line beeped, and seeming as if she already knew what this was about, the pink Powerpuff leader flew over and answered. "Yes mayor?"

" _Blossom, you need to come quick! The police chief's just been attacked, and vials of that antidote X have been stolen! We need you to help us catch whoever did this."_

"Of course mayor. Where's the chief?" replied Blossom.

" _Down at the station, he says it was too fast to see what attacked him."_

"We're on it mayor." She put the phone down and turned to her sisters. "Girls, we're heading to the police station, c'mon." She gestured for them to follow her. Buttercup, and a slightly worried Bubbles, flew behind.

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Arriving at the police station, the girls entered and soon met up with Townsville's chief of police, who had a black eye and cuts all over. He was sat down by a desk, after a medic had just checked him over.

"Chief what happened?" asked Blossom concerned.

"Who attacked you?" Buttercup questioned further.

"Girls, you're here." The chief rubbed his head. "I don't quite know what happened. I was putting away the antidote x vials in the storage room, when from behind these flashes of light came, and I think I blacked out. When I woke up the vials were gone. All the security cameras picked up were these streaks of light."

"Streaks of light huh?" Blossom put a hand to her chin. "What, colours were they?"

"They were going too fast to tell exactly, but I think they were blue green, and I'm not sure but either pink or red. Blossom, do you think-"

"Possibly, and if it is, they now have antidote X, which is dangerous for us." The Powerpuff leader had a look in her eyes, and it was a look that her blue sister recognised as the 'I knew I was right' sort of look.

"Looks like the boys are out in our city, finally executing that long plan of theirs. But don't worry, as long as they don't have any Duranium darts on hand," Blossom briefly glanced at the police chief.

"They didn't steal those" he told her.

"Then they shouldn't be able to affect us with it" she finished.

Bubbles however brought up the argument "But why would they steal the antidote X without that?"

"Probably just too stupid and forgot" Buttercup waved her hand.

"But you two just said they had a long clever plan that they-"

"We need to act quickly" Blossom interrupted the blonde girl. "Buttercup I want you to head over to Mojo's, and spy on him while remaining hidden. See if he is truly working with the boys or not. Bubbles, go and tell the Professor and Mrs Innlost about what's just happened. I'll head over to city hall, and talk to the mayor about putting the police on high alert for the ruffs."

The girls followed her orders, although Bubbles did reluctantly, and all three of them split up to do their tasks. Bubbles was now extremely worried. This was the exact opposite of what she wanted to happen. There was no way the boys could've attacked the chief, she had known them for long enough now to know that their non-evil lives were genuine. Plus the boys knew that doing something like that would be suicide for their credibility.

It had to be those 'other' superpowered girls Mrs Innlost told them about. If even she was saying it, then it must've been true. Knowing that her sisters were too busy in their tasks to listen to this, Bubbles stopped above the city and whispered quietly "Boys, where are you?"

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On top of the same building they had previously talked on, the three ruffs met up with each other once again, neither with anything to report. "Did you find anything?" Brick asked them.

"Nothing Brick. All those old hideouts are abandoned, with no real distinctive clues or anything" told Boomer.

"I didn't get any real answers" admitted Butch. "I did do some interrogating, but I don't have quite the knack for it as you do bro."

Brick shook his head. "I had similar results. Maybe if we try…"

While he was talking, Boomer with his super hearing heard a faint voice that seemed to be calling them. "Guys listen, do you hear that?" he interrupted them, and they all listened out.

After a few seconds, Boomer recognised it. "It's Bubbles. She's looking for us." In a similar tone of voice, the blond boy called out "Bubbles, it's Boomer, we're on the roof of the supermarket office building."

Within five seconds, the Powerpuff zipped right to them and briefly her excitement overcame her. "Boys you're here!" she flew down and hugged her counterpart. "Boys you're in trouble" she let go of Boomer. "The Townsville police chief was just attacked, and he said he saw three streaks of coloured light, blue green, and possibly red or pink."

"Damn, and we can't listen out for their flying noises, since we all make that same noise when we fly" Brick realised.

"Boys I have to know. This, was those other chemical X kids wasn't it? It wasn't, you was it?" Bubbles really wanted for once for Blossom to be wrong.

"Bubbles of course not" Boomer said in a very sincere tone. "We're only just starting to gain the trust of the people, why would we do something to ruin it now?"

"This is what I mean Brick" Butch turned to his leader brother. "We're trying to help them, and they're only going to accuse us of, whatever."

"To be fair, they've only just heard of these other superpowered kids, so they might not believe it at first." The red ruff put a hand on his forehead. "Though this is going to be a problem, if Blossom thinks it's us who attacked the chief, she's going to try to apprehend us and interfere with our investigation."

"But they'll never believe us if we just straight up tell them. The only probable way we can prove we're right is if we capture those other chemical X girls" Boomer figured.

"Not necessarily 'capture' them per say, but if we can just somehow draw them out in the open, they'll see we're telling the truth" Brick planned out.

"And how do we do that if we don't know where they are?" Butch questioned.

"It'll be risky but the only place to check for clues is the police station. We'll have to sneak in, and turn off their cameras so they don't see us. Boomer, fly high above the city and keep a lookout for Blossom and Buttercup, warn us if anything happens" Brick instructed.

"I wanna go with him too!" Bubbles spoke up.

"Good idea. Bubbles, if necessary, could you stall your sisters?" Brick asked.

"I'll try if I have to" she responded.

"Butch, you come with me." The four children then split off and the red and green brothers soon arrived at the roof of the station, opening a power box.

"Okay, flick this switch, it'll temporarily disable their cameras" said Brick as his brother did so.

"Alright, let's sneak in through the vents."

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Blossom was flying back from city hall, after talking to the mayor who put the Townsville police on high alert, and she hadn't heard from Buttercup yet. Deciding to check on her she flew to Mojo's, where she found her green sister still spying on the primate.

"Did anything happen?" she asked her.

"Nothing. No Rowdyruff boys or anything! This monkey's just been vacuuming his place while mumbling to himself. Ah screw it! I'm just gonna ask him!"

"Wait Buttercup!" Blossom tried to stop her as the puff flew into the lair startling the poor ape.

"Mojo!"

"Ah! What in-, that's twice now one of insolent Powerpuffs have stormed in unannounced" the villain shook his fist and looked down at his broken vacuum. "What do you three have against my property anyway?"

"Save it! I wanna know if the Rowdyruff boys are truly working with you or not?" Buttercup demanded as Blossom flew up beside her.

"Didn't I already tell you this?" Mojo looked at the puff leader.

Like Buttercup, Blossom cut straight to the point. "I dunno, it's just that the boys are back in town and I figured you might not have been telling the truth last time."

"So they're finally back huh? Well if you're trying to find them, you're in the wrong place" he dismissed.

"How can we trust you?" Blossom eyed him.

Mojo sighed. "Look, I can hack into CCTV cameras all around Townsville with my computer. If you find the boys with it, will you please stop breaking my things?"

"You can hack into cameras?" Blossom said in a stern accusing tone.

"Do you want to find them or not?" a fed up Mojo Jojo exclaimed before muttering and walking to his computer. Pressing a few buttons, he had most of Townsville in view, and the girls watched behind. "Okay, so there's nothing by the mall, nothing by the banks, nothing by-, hold on, that's strange."

"Yes, it is" the pink puff observed. "The cameras inside the police station have been switched off, when the police should be on high alert right now."

"I can switch them back on from here" Mojo pressed a button, and on the screen the three of them saw Brick and Butch inside the corridors of the police station.

"Welp, looks like we know where we're heading" Buttercup zipped off in that direction.

"Thanks Mojo, and don't hack into anymore cameras" Blossom warned before following her sister.

The primate swung back on his chair. "Eh, I might as well enjoy the show while it's here" he grabbed some popcorn whilst still staring at the screens.

"Do you think we should call Bubbles?" asked Buttercup as she flew alongside Blossom.

"There's only two of them there, we can handle 'em" Blossom proclaimed as they approached the station. She knew it, Blossom knew it. After months of investigation and fifty percent of people telling her she was wrong, she was finally about to be proven right about the Rowdyruffs.

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"Hm" the Rowdyruff leader observed some sort of compound he scraped up with his stubbed hand. "Butch, you can stop keeping a lookout, I have what I need to examine." He put the compound in a tiny evidence bag and in his belt.

"Finally, I don't like being in a building full of people hunting us" Butch flew through the vents and back outside with his brother up into the air.

"Alright, just examine the evidence and let's find these punks and get out of here" Butch wiped his brow. "I don't like being-"

"Well, criminals always return to the scene of the crime don't they Buttercup?"

Both brothers heard the voice and turned to see the last thing they needed right now. Blossom and Buttercup were both floating there a few feet away from them. They feared this would happen, but neither knew quite what to do if it did.

"I knew I was right all along! There was just no absolute way you ruffs could ever be anything more than evil criminal thugs with meat for brains." Blossom pointed. "Alright, you may have tricked someone as smart as Mrs Innlost, and deceived half of Founders city, I'll give you that, but you couldn't pull the wall over my eyes, I knew what you were up to."

The two Rowdyruffs floated there watching them. "Brick what do we do?" Butch whispered, sounding not intimidated but very unsure.

"Perhaps we can reason with them" was the only option Brick could think of right now. He knew if they fought the girls, it would only make it seem that Blossom was right.

Having super hearing, both girls heard too what the red ruff said. "Reason?" they repeated at the same time. "Ha, have they become too cowardly to actually go head to head with us?" Buttercup mocked.

Ignoring their comments, the Rowdyruff leader floated forward slightly, and took in a deep breath. "Blossom, I heard that the police chief here was attacked."

"Yeah, he was, and don't you play innocent with me Mr Brick Jojo, I know you're the one who attacked him, and stole those vials of antidote X!" Blossom continued to accuse.

"Antidote X?" Brick repeated. "Oh that's bad."

"Careful Buttercup" Blossom warned looking around. "The other Rowdyruff could be around here, preparing to attack with those vials."

Upon hearing that, Brick had an idea. Discreetly, he switched on his comm, so that both Bubbles and Boomer up in the clouds could listen to it. "Blossom" he began. "Boomer isn't around here, and we did not steal those vials of antidote X."

And as Brick figured, the blues could hear everything. "Blossom?" they both looked at each other worriedly.

The puffs and ruffs continued their confrontation. "The chief himself said you did, and the cameras picked you up. In fact that's probably what you're trying to do now isn't it? Erase the footage" the Powerpuff leader glared at them.

"Look, let me explain-" Brick tried to reason with her, but was again interrupted by his counterpart.

"There's nothing to explain, we caught you red handed. The courts will once again find you guilty no doubt, and you'll have another nice long stay at a maximum security prison. Now if you'll be so kind as to come with us. We'll find Boomer later." Both Powerpuff girls took a fighting stance, preparing for what they expected to be a long grueling battle.

Not wanting to get himself or his brother in anything of the sort, Brick put his hand on the green ruff's arm "Butch, with me, right now." He shot off pulling his brother with him, leaving the two girls slightly stunned for a second.

"Wha-, don't let them get away!" Blossom ordered as she and her sister followed in pursuit.

"Why are we running?" Butch managed to say after having just been dragged by his leader brother, and now flying at a same pace with him.

"Because if everyone sees us in a fight with them, they're immediately going to assume we're guilty" Brick explained mid flight. Another idea then came to the Rowdyruff leader. "Split up, try to lose them and meet back on top the Townsville hospital."

Butch nodded and the ruffs flew in different directions.

Speeding behind, the two girls saw this. "Buttercup, go after Butch, I'll handle Brick." Each girl pursued their counterpart.

Getting onto the comm, the red ruff asked the blues "Did you hear all that?"

" _Yeah we did bro, what should we do?"_

"Boomer I want you to help Butch get away from Buttercup _without_ fighting her. Bubbles, you still there?"

" _Yeah?"_

"I have Blossom on my tail, could you possibly distract her? We're meeting on the Townsville hospital afterwards."

The blues accepted and left the cloud they were standing on to help the two boys.

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Buttercup wasn't that far behind Butch now, despite him zig zagging inbetween buildings in an effort to lose her. It was a bit difficult since he hadn't been in this city for two years so he had lost some familiarity with it. Unfortunately he wasn't having very much luck.

"Come back and face me you coward!" she called out.

"As much as I'd love to, I don't really fancy being blamed for something I didn't do" he called back.

"Oh c'mon there's no point playing innocent now" she responded while still chasing him.

The Rowdyruff was becoming annoyed. "Do you honestly think that we, _we_ , could trick Wendy for this long? That she wouldn't in all that time have suspected anything?"

"If you put on the helpless orphan act you could've!" the puff shot back.

"Then why you Brick try to front up reason with you if we knew we were guilty?"

"You-, he, I dunno! But I'm still gonna bring you in!"

Just then a flag pole that looked like it had been torn a building fell down and barely missed Buttercup, and hit an unoccupied area below. Of course it wasn't meant to hit Buttercup, and using this brief distraction Butch shot off as far as he could, his blue brother, who was on top the nearby building, followed suite.

"Wha-, where? Oooooohh." The Powerpuff furrowed realising she'd lost him.

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Brick still had Blossom following him. It didn't help that he left a streak of light behind him. Bubbles wasn't here yet, so he had to think of something. But what else could he do other than talk to her? She wouldn't listen to him whilst she was chasing him, so very cleverly, he performed a maneuver that he learnt from old spitfire planes from watching documentaries about world war 2.

Blossom was surprised when her target suddenly dived and appeared behind her. She looked round to see him floating there, not taking the chance he had to attack her at all. Instead he just said "Blossom, I'm going to try one more time. You're in danger. You and your sisters."

"Oh I know, that's why I'm eliminating the problem right now. All three of them." She still would not budge.

"There are three other superpowered girls out there to get you, don't you understand?" Brick reasoned.

"That's your alibi is it? There just happens to be three other chemical X users like us, who have been behind it all the whole time?" Blossom mocked. The way she said it in made it sound like it was completely absurd. "As well as a corpse who's come back to life, and is in charge of them?"

"Did you even listen to the evidence that my mom provided?" he questioned her.

"At this point I don't think it'll make much of a difference" she refuted folding her arms.

"So you didn't listen to it then?" Brick shook his head. "Don't you get it? You could seriously be in trouble."

"I could say the same to you. You thought you could trick everyone be pretending to be the people of Founders saviour, and when you have them all tricked you betray them, take over both cities, and destroy me and my sisters!"

"It seems to me you're the only one who's been deceived Blossom, by yourself that is."

The Powerpuff, although fully in the belief that he was still evil, did have to admit, this Brick was far different than the one she last talked to being lead down the steps of the courthouse. It had only been two years, and yet he seemed more, calm, more, dare she say, mature? He definitely was speaking a lot differently to how he used to.

"I think running away from from us is a good sign that you are definitely guilty, and…"

While Blossom was going on, Brick noticed out of the corner of his eye a small light blue figure waving at him in the distance. Slowly moving away, the Rowdyruff zoomed off in a direction too fast for his counterpart to process what just happened.

"What-? You get back here-"

"Hi Blossom!" Bubbles suddenly appeared out of nowhere, acting as innocent as she could, pretending not to have seen Brick.

"Bubbles?"

"I told the Professor and Mrs Innlost about what just happened like you said."

"Bubbles you got in my way, I almost had Brick just now."

"Brick? He was here just now?" The blonde pretended to look around.

"Yes. Now c'mon, I think he went in this direction. Stay close to me."

Bubbles, wanting to rejoin with the boys, pretended to follow her sister for a while, and then quietly, discreetly, floated away and headed to the hospital.

"Okay Bubbs stay on alert, because these ruffs are-," The pink puff looked behind to see her sister was not there, but instead saw her light blue streak in the distance heading in a completely different direction. "What is she doing?" she whispered to herself, and went after her sister.

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Meeting up on the hospital rooftop, the three ruffs and one puff all caught their breath. "Phew, that was a little worrying" Boomer wiped his forehead.

"Yeah, thanks for the assist back there buddy" Butch thanked while still breathing.

"And thanks as well Bubbles" Brick began.

Meanwhile Blossom was following her sister's light streak, and was just about to see the thing that would give her one of the biggest shocks of her life. "Doesn't she know that if she doesn't stay by me she'll-" she stopped just a couple yards away from the hospital rooftop, and let out a gasp. Mouth agape, she watched her very own sister, Bubbles, talk and converse with the Rowdyruff boys themselves.

"No problem Brick" the blue puff replied to him. "Just as long as you three are safe from my sisters, and carry out this investigation, it's fine by me."

"Bubbles?"

All four of them then turned and saw a completely speechless Blossom floating there. Bubbles gasped too. "Blossom!"

"You're, with them?"

 **Yeah so uh, ended on a little cliffhanger there. I gotta be honest, I wasn't really sure how to write the reunion between the ruffs and the puffs. I've read a few fanfictions where they meet up again but I wasn't sure how this one would go down. I hope it was interesting enough.**

 **Thanks to Vip189, John, and Diana. And to Ana, another review that made my day, thank you.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	26. Disbelief

This was a very intense situation, and it seemed that none of the five superpowered kids knew what to say for a brief few seconds. But being the leader and feeling somewhat responsible, Brick thought he should speak up. "Blossom. I can-"

"No Brick" Bubbles stopped him softly. "Don't you take any heat for me."

That moment Buttercup had flown up beside Blossom after looking for her for the past 15 minutes. "Ah Blossom there you are, I've been looking-, what are you staring at?" The green Powerpuff then looked herself. "There's the boys! And, Bubbles is standing with them?"

"Bubbles is with them Buttercup" Blossom explained.

"What? You're kidding right? I mean there's no way Bubbs would ever join those little, little-" Buttercup trailed off, looking back at her 'younger' sister, realising she was serious. "You, actually have."

"I haven't actually quote unquote 'joined' the boys" Bubbles countered. "I've just, well-"

"But you've been conversing with them" Blossom pointed. She wasn't even angry, she was still more or less in a state of shock. "Did you meet up with them today? And try to distract us from arresting them?"

"I, met them again quite a while ago, actually" Bubbles responded shyly.

"How long?" Blossom questioned.

"Well, you know all those months ago when I went on that school field trip to Founders city?" The blonde rubbed the back of her head.

"Since then?" shot Buttercup.

"I saw a building on fire, and when I flew to help I saw Boomer fly out with a baby, that he was rescuing. He didn't even know I was there! He was just as shocked to see me as I was him. And he didn't even want to talk to me at first, Brick specifically had a face to face talk with me asking to be left alone as they did not want to get involved in anything. And that was before they became heroes!"

Bubbles tried to get this across to them, but her sisters still wouldn't budge. "Probably because they were still plotting" figured Buttercup.

"What? No-"

"I-it must be" Blossom said still trying to wrap her head around this. "Y-you must've caught them doing something, and they had to go along with it!"

"They were living on the street scrounging for food, because they had given up stealing! They didn't even want Mrs Innlost to adopt them at first-"

"You knew them before Mrs Innlost?" said Buttercup.

"Well, see, that proves it, being adopted by her would've set back their plans. Until they decided to use Mrs Innlost of course" accused Blossom.

"Is she actually suggesting that we're using mom?" Butch whispered quite offended at that.

"Butch be quiet" Brick whispered back.

Bubbles was herself now in a state of disbelief. Even with all this evidence being given to her, Blossom would still not budge on the topic, or even admit that maybe there was a chance that she was wrong. "Girls don't you see? I _chose_ to visit them, I even brought them food sometimes, and I swear, they were just living in a warehouse not doing anything other than surviving until they were adopted! If they were planning something, why would they wait this long to do it?"

Blossom didn't answer her sister's question however, instead asking her own. "You've been secretly visiting them? Is that where you were actually going all this time? To meet with them?" It made sense now. She never paid attention to it before, but whenever the boys would come up in conversation, Bubbles would always suggest that they weren't evil, or that their 'turned a new leaf' charade was genuine. The pink Powerpuff always thought it was just Bubbles being naive or trying to see the best in everyone.

In truth, Blossom felt betrayed. She would never expect one of her own sisters whom she fought alongside to go against her like that. If they ever would, she always thought it'd be Buttercup who she'd have a problem with, not Bubbles. Why didn't she suspect it? Didn't she think that Bubbles was capable of this? And now look, she's been brainwashed by the enemy. She had to get her away from them.

"Bubbles, you are coming over here, right now." The Powerpuff leader ordered.

"But you're gonna hurt the boys!" her sister protested.

"I said, with me. Right. Now."

Bubbles paused, then just simply stated "No" folding her arms. "I won't let you hurt three innocent people. Three innocent people who have family, and are trying to help us."

Blossom couldn't believe what she was hearing. She didn't want to do this, but she had to resort to drastic measures to save her sister. "Bubbles forgive me for this, but it's for your own good." Drawing in air she blew out her ice breath straight at Bubbles before the blonde puff could even react. Her sister was now frozen solid, and was caught by Buttercup mid air before she could fall.

"Bubbles!" all three boys exclaimed.

"A bit harsh wasn't it?" Buttercup commented holding the frozen Bubbles.

"It was to help her" Blossom stated and turned back to the boys breathing another gust of ice breath at them. They saw this.

"Boys, spin attack!" Brick ordered quickly. The three ruffs then spun around on the spot, so fast that it generated enough heat to melt the ice breath before it could hit them.

Blossom opened her eyes and saw that it had failed. So she turned to Buttercup and commanded "Put Bubbles down on that building, she'll eventually melt. Then go after Butch."

The green puff, not wanting to argue with Blossom this angry, put Bubbles down on the nearest rooftop.

"Butch, run" Brick ordered hearing what his counterpart said. The Rowdyruff nodded and zoomed off.

"What about these two?" Buttercup asked pointing to Boomer and Brick.

"I'll handle them."

"You sure?"

"Sure, now go!"

Buttercup flew off too, pursuing the other Rowdyruff, leaving the three remaining chemical X users to their stand off.

"What do we do now Brick?" Boomer whispered very worriedly.

"Follow me" he ordered as he sped off, Boomer following him.

"Get back here" Blossom chased after them, clear anger in her voice.

Flying alongside each other at high speed, Brick knew if he said anything to Boomer, Blossom would hear it with her super hearing. So instead he tapped his brother on the shoulder, and used sign language, which that had learnt since they thought it'd be helpful for crime fighting. Boomer saw and nodded.

He then parted from Brick and zig zagged inbetween buildings. The ruff leader then quickly cut across Blossom so she couldn't see where Boomer was going. "Wha-, hey! Where did Boomer go?" she yelled turning to Brick who was a few feet away from her. "He's not getting to Bubbles if that's what you're planning!"

"Bubbles will be fine Blossom, though I doubt she'll be very happy with you once she thaws."

"You brainwashed her! How dare you use my own sister against me."

"At this rate you're turning her against you" Brick countered.

Blossom studied her counterpart. Though his mannerisms were completely different, he didn't seem to have changed much physically. Apart from having short hair again, and perhaps an inch taller, he was the same as when they last met. So maybe if she played this right, she could defeat him.

Brick did not want to fight Blossom at all. This whole thing was just a waste of time from what he should be really doing. And if people saw him fighting her, they would instantly take her side. The media would spin it anyway they could to make it seem like he was the bad guy, regardless of facts. He had to lose her in a non violent way.

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Meanwhile, Butch was pretty much back at square one with Buttercup, trying to lose her through the city. He groaned. "Ugh, I thought we already did this?"

"Well if you kindly gave yourself up, it would be over wouldn't it" Buttercup heard him.

"What's your problem? Why is it so hard to admit that we're not the bad guys you think we are anymore?" Butch challenged.

"Probably because you are evil! You manipulated Bubbles into siding with you!" accused Buttercup.

"Oh yeah, we managed to manipulate her after one day, then let her go straight back to tell you all about us" the ruff mocked sarcastically. "After all those months of visiting us, and you don't think she would've suspected anything? Tell me Butter brain, do you believe everything you read? Do you genuinely believe we're bad? Or do you just listen to everything the news says about us? That you only hate us because it's trendy and popular to?" Butch finished and Buttercup didn't have any response to that.

Just then an explosion went off at a nearby bank, setting it on fire, making both the ruff and puff stop midair. It seemed that some criminals took advantage of the girls and police being distracted. Buttercup knew she should continue chasing after Butch, but innocent citizens could get hurt in that fire. "Aaah" she moaned and zipped down to the bank.

Butch turned and noticed this as well. At first he was glad at this distraction, and figured that his counterpart would help those people. But then he thought about those people inside. They could get hurt, or Buttercup might not be able to catch the thieves if she was busy saving the people. Rolling his eyes he flew down to the bank as well.

Entering the bank, Buttercup saw three robbers holding up the staff and taking money out of the destroyed vault. "Hold it right there!" she demanded.

The robbers looked at her. "I thought you said them girls was busy?" said one to another.

"Well there's only one of 'em it seems, and she ain't gonna 'ave the chance to catch us." One of them lit a stick of dynamite and threw it up into the broken ceiling, right above the kneeling citizens, and it exploded.

Buttercup gasped and flew to the broken ceiling, holding it up so it wouldn't collapse on the citizens.

The fire spread and the robbers ran out the front door. "Can't, hold, it, all," the Powerpuff struggled to hold the entirety of the ceiling up. But then she heard three punch sounds and all the robbers flew back into the building unconscious.

Butch floated inside and made sure the thieves were tied up and outside. By now the sprinklers had come on, but Butch ripped off the pipe and used it as a hose to put out the flames. "Go!" he yelled to the citizens and staff. They didn't care that it was a Rowdyruff saving them, they just wanted to get out.

"Wha-, what are you doing?" Buttercup had seen what he had done, but before she could say anything else, the whole ceiling collapsed on her, trapping her underneath.

Butch immediately flew down and began lifting the rubble as far as he could. Enough for Buttercup to get out at least. She coughed and tried to get up. "Why, why are you helping me?"

"Do you wanna live or not?" he strained.

Looking up, the Powerpuff flew and knocked the rubble upwards with her shoulder slightly, and both chemical X users sped out before it collapsed again. Taking a few breaths, and turning to see that the civilians were okay and the thieves were caught, Buttercup had multiple questions she wanted to ask.

Her counterpart was still floating beside her, and she asked him "Why'd you come back? Why did you help me with that? You could've easily have gotten away from me just now."

"Look, for what's it's worth, I didn't do it for you, I did it because innocent people were in danger" he answered.

"Since when did you care about innocent people?" the puff questioned.

"Ever since I realised I can achieve a lot more helping them than hurting them. If I was planning something, then I could've escaped from you just now and have carried it out. But I'm not. And I wouldn't have come here with a ridiculous story like 'three other super powered girls' if it wasn't true. And as much as I really want to smack and punch you right now, it wouldn't be, as Brick said, productive."

Buttercup then began thinking. It did seem a bit strange how he didn't want to fight her. And she did think freezing Bubbles was a bit harsh.

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Still being pursued by Blossom, Brick saw in the distance a burning building. The same bank Buttercup and Butch had saved.

The reds had seen it was taking care of though, and Blossom continued to chase him. Getting an idea, Brick put a breathing device in his mouth from his belt, and flew in circles around the fire, the Powerpuff on his tail.

After a while, Blossom began to cough, and stopped chasing the ruff. Now away from the fire, Brick removed the breathing device. "Being around carbon monoxide for too long whilst flying, not a good idea. Don't worry, it wasn't long enough to seriously affect you."

"How did you, 'cough', know about-, ' cough cough', ah it doesn't matter. I'm still bringing you in."

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Boomer flew into the Utonium household, where Brick had told him to go, and called out "Mom! Mom! Professor!"

"Boomer!" Wendy and the Professor came into the room. "What's happening? We came back and saw that the girls were gone."

"Boomer?" this was the first time the Professor, in awhile at least, had met the ruff in person.

"Hi again Mr Utonium. Mom, the Townsville police chief has been attacked, and the girls think it's us who did it!" Boomer told her.

"Oh no, it must've been those other super powered kids. I have to contact the girls somehow" worried the Professor. "Girls!" he called out, hoping they would hear him with their super hearing. "Girls!" Nothing. "I'll call the line to the mayor's office, see if they can get them."

As soon as the Professor left the room, Boomer asked his mother. "What are we gonna do mom?"

"I'll speak to Brick" Wendy put a earpiece into her ear.

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" _Brick you there?"_

"Mom? So Boomer made it" the ruff answered still flying across the city's skyline.

" _What happened Brick?"_

"Mom, Blossom's attacking me. Butch is trying to lose Buttercup, and Blossom froze up Bubbles when she found out she was meeting with us."

" _She did what?"_

"She thinks it's for her own good. Boomer will fill you in. But for now I'm trying to beat Blossom without actually fighting her. If anyone sees me in battle with her-"

" _They'll think you're the bad guy. Okay Brick listen, I've come up with a few plan_ s _just in case of a scenario like this. Here's what you need to do."_ Wendy then explained everything to Brick on how to battle Blossom without actually fighting her.

"Got it mom, thanks." The Rowdyruff got off the comm, and his opponent then once again came face to face with him.

"I've had enough of chasing you around Brick! Perhaps it's time for a different approach."

"I agree, that's probably what Bubbles thought when she got fed up of you" Brick said in a bored tone.

"She what? Don't you talk to me about Bubbles-"

"Perhaps it wasn't her being fed up, but instead being afraid. Do you always freeze her when she has a different opinion to you?" the ruff mocked still maintaining the same bored tone of voice.

"No! It was to get her away from you!" the Powerpuff fired some of her heat vision at him but he dodged it easily.

The Rowdyruff continued. "Bare in mind, it probably won't just be Bubbles who'll start preferring us to you. I've seen your work in Townsville recently, and let's be honest, you're slipping a bit aren't you? I wonder what the people of Townsville must think of that-"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Blossom dart at him, and again he dodged her attack, and lead her into a chase. "I wouldn't do for Townsville's citizens if their protector was wrong."

"Oh I definitely wasn't wrong about you. You attacked the police chief and robbed our national bank!" the puff yelled.

"Even though most officers in Founders gave statements about us fighting crime in their city, instead of being here in Townsville. Honestly Blossom, can't you even _admit_ you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong!" The supergirl was becoming furious now, and tried to hit Brick. She felt so many things at this time, and was ruled by her emotions. Anger, frustration, and most of all the fear of him being right about Bubbles.

Brick kept a clear head however, and did not let any emotion cloud his judgement, avoiding her attacks with ease. He countered most of them, but she got lucky with one blow and knocked him down to the street.

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On top the nearby roof where the confrontation with Bubbles took place, Boomer had found where they left the frozen Powerpuff who was slowly melting, and thawed her out completely with his heat vision.

Falling to the floor in a pool of water, Bubbles breathed and looked around confused. "Boomie? What? What happened? Wait, I remember. Blossom, she froze me. She actually froze me." She put her hands on her head. Once again a state of disbelief overcame her. She never thought Blossom would do something like that.

The Rowdyruff flew down by her side and put his arm around her. She was shaking slightly, and looked very distressed. "Are you alright? Do you want to rest for a bit or find my brothers?"

Bubbles leaned against him slightly holding him close, and replied "No I'm, I'm okay, we gotta find your brothers and my sisters, and quickly."

"Mom gave me the last location of Brick, let's go." The children zoomed off to that very location, and using their super hearing, they found the reds down on the street, Blossom currently standing over Brick.

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"Give it up Brick, it's over now" demanded Blossom, having been all worked up.

"Blossom wait!" a high pitched voice came from above and she turned to see the blues arrive.

"Bubbles? So that's where Boomer went."

"Okay Blossom, just _please_ listen to me" pleaded the blonde puff sounding desperate.

"Do you still honestly believe that the Rowdyruffs have changed?" argued the pink puff.

"I think, she's right Bloss" another voice, Buttercup's voice, came from behind her. Both the greens had just come back from saving the bank.

"Buttercup? Oh no, not you too?"

"Look sis, I know we were both dead sure about them still being evil. But, as much as I hate to say it, Butch here helped me out of a burning fire, after saving some folks, and it does seem a bit unlikely how they don't want to fight us."

"Well don't you see it's a trick!"

"Blossom, I think we were wrong" Buttercup finished.

This could not be happening. Not both her sisters. Well, if she couldn't convince them, she instead turned to the cops, who had just arrived behind them. "You, cops! You've been ordered to arrest the Rowdyruffs, well there's one now!" she pointed at Brick, and the officers ran in front of the citizens and fired their guns at the boy.

They didn't effect him of course, and Brick flew further down the street away from them, Blossom in pursuit.

The police then turned to Boomer and Butch, but before they could shoot at them, the two girls beside them flew in front, shielding them. "Officers" began Bubbles. "Let us explain."

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Brick, still being chased, decided it was time to end this. He flew up into the sky, and with the both the sun, and her fury blinding Blossom, he appeared out of nowhere and knocked her straight down to the ground with one incredible punch.

She fell directly down on the concrete, on the steps of city hall, dazed and beaten. Brick floated down to the steps.

Her head in a mess, the pink puff could barely stand. "How? How did you-"

"I'm sorry Blossom, but I had to get you out of my hair somehow. And I really didn't want to fight you. I taunted you and made you become emotional, letting your emotions cloud your judgement, causing you to fight carelessly. And once you couldn't get your sisters on your side, you resorted to getting the nearest thugs, the Townsville cops, to do the dirty work for you. In short, I took jabs at your femininity. Now if you'll excuse me, I have your hides to save." Brick turned and began floating away.

The Powerpuff growled trying to stand. "Come back here and fight, you coward."

"For the last time, I'm not going to fight you Blossom, you're not worth it" he said over his shoulder. He turned back and shook his head, continuing to float away, saying the next part to himself. "And I'm going to kick myself for taking this long to realise you never were."

For a second, both the reds thought this was it, that this was the end of it. That Blossom had lost the battle. Until police sirens appeared from nearly every direction. They had been watching the reds battle for a while, but now they could finally intervene.

Behind the cops were a crowd of Townsville citizens. And the only thing they saw was Brick, and a beaten Blossom. To the cops and the townsfolk, they thought they had the whole story.

"Mr Brick Jojo, you're coming with us" a police officer announced from a megaphone.

"Let me explain-" Brick tried to say but his counterpart cut him off.

"Arrest him officers" Blossom managed to float up. "Him and his brothers."

The blues and greens, along with the cops who were with them arrived at that point too. And on hearing Blossom's order, they pointed their guns at the other two ruffs.

The people of Townsville started to jeer at the ruffs.

"They should've never come back!"

"They haven't changed at all!"

"Send 'em down the river!"

"We shouldn't believe them at all!"

Tensions were high, and the worst part was, the boys couldn't escape from this. Physically they could, but they knew if they ran away now, that would only make it look like they were guilty.

 **The big confrontation between the two, well mostly Blossom and Brick, but even then it doesn't seem that the boys have had much luck coming back to Townsville, and still haven't tracked down those 'other' chemical X kids and their boss Ian. And now how will they get out of this.**

 **To Neo Tastsuji aka Zeta master, Bliss I'm afraid won't appear in this, as obviously I thought of this story before she was introduced, but thanks for the review.**

 **And thanks to guest, Vip189 and John.**

Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.


	27. Retreat

This was bad. This was very bad. This was almost checkmate, the boys couldn't do anything except listen to the officers orders. Of course Bubbles and Buttercup tried to explain to the cops, but when the officers looked to Blossom for confirmation, she gave the exact opposite story, ordering the officers to continue with the arrest.

It was now evening, and the mayor at this point stepped out of city hall with two cops behind him. Ms Bellum however wasn't with the mustached man this time. Instead she was taking a phone call on the Powerpuff hotline, talking with the Professor.

He was explaining the whole story to her. Even playing the tape recording of Brick's interrogation of Folla over the phone, to prove to her that the boys were here to help.

"So there's actually three other superpowered children?" The redheaded secretary then heard the noise of a crowd outside the window, and looked out to see the six superpowered kids in the air and large crowd of police and citizens. "Uh oh, Professor, you might want to come down to city hall, something's going on."

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The crowd was still jeering at the boys, who the three were now together floating above the steps of city hall.

"Mr Mayor I'm glad you're here" Blossom addressed. "You need to issue an arrest warrant for these three immediately."

"Oh, right, yes of course" agreed the mayor naively. "Officers, arrest these three."

" _Rowdyruff boys"_ the officer on the megaphone began. _"Drop all technology you have on you."_

Boomer and Butch glanced at their leader, awaiting an instruction. "Do as he says" Brick whispered, not wanting to get them into anymore trouble. Reluctantly, the three Rowdyruffs removed their earpieces and any device they had in their belts, leaving them on the floor.

A little surprised at how cooperative they were being, the officer with the megaphone continued _"Alright, now float down to the nearest squad car, where we have duranium cuffs waiting for you."_

A little hesitant to do this, but knowing they had no other alternatives, the boys slowly floated down and obeyed.

"No" Bubbles whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Just as the three ruffs were about to accept arrest, stones and pebbles were thrown from the crowd at them, followed by empty drink cans and other general trash. The boys tried to shield themselves.

"Get 'em outta here!"

"They don't deserve to be treated with any sort of respect!"

"Probably trying to deceive us all!"

"They attacked Blossom!"

The police tried to get the crowd under control, but people from their apartments who watched the whole thing started throwing things as well. In fact it became so bad that the boys had to fly away slightly to get out of the crowd's aim.

By now both Wendy and the Professor had arrived in Wendy's car, and got out behind the crowd, just in time to witness this witch hunt.

There wasn't really anywhere to fly, and the large crowd still managed to throw whatever they could at their targets. The boys had no choice, although they should really be following the officer's instructions, they didn't want to face vigilante mob justice, so they flew away, through the buildings of Townsville, trying to get away from the angry mob.

"No, Boys!" Bubbles called out to them about to follow after in suite.

But Buttercup stopped her by putting her arm out. "I wouldn't Bubbs" she said referring to the nasty crowd.

"Shouldn't they be arrested in civil manner Blossom?" the mayor inquired.

Blossom thought for a second. "I got a better idea. Let them run, they'll be heading back to Founders." She turned to the police chief who was starting to recover from his attack. "Chief, if you're feeling well enough, call the police chief in Founders city, tell him to put his forces on high alert, and search the city for the ruffs."

"Will do Blossom" nodded the chief, as the Powerpuff floated up and stood on top the city hall building, looking out at the fleeing Rowdyruffs.

Flying around many corners and taking many turns, the Rowdyruff boys did the best they could to escape the mob justice and get out of sight. In the midst of it all, Brick did consider going back and explaining, but flashes of the image of his brothers battered and beaten played in his mind, so he just kept leading them out. Out of the city where it would be safe for them.

"Ah I knew this would happen!" Butch exclaimed as they flew over the outskirts. "They got one thing right, we should've never come back."

Boomer was looking rather distressed and worried. "What now Brick?" he turned to his brother.

"We have to go back to Founders for now" the red ruff stated.

"Didn't you hear what pinky said with your super hearing? She's gonna turn the whole Founders police force against us!" protested Butch.

"Chief Mccoy is smarter than that, he'd want proof first." Brick looked back at Townsville. "But just to be safe, we'd better lay low for a while, hide somewhere else." He started to slowly fly away from the city, his brothers following him.

"Oh yeah" scoffed Butch in a low tone. "Just like back when we were criminals."

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In the middle of Townsville, the trouble from the angry crowd had died down, and they had more or less dispersed. Wendy stared in the direction of where her sons had flown away, and called after them hoping they would hear with their super hearing, but they didn't respond. She turned to see the police officers picking up the technology the boys had on the city hall steps, including their comm links. She had no way of contacting them.

The police officers had either split up or stood down by now, and the Blossom continued to look out from on top the roof of city hall, her sisters floating behind her.

"The police in Founders city will get them. They did once before, during a riot, and they can catch them again. But if they do need any assistance, we'll be there to help, won't we girls?" the pink leader glanced back at them.

It took Bubbles a second to find her voice and reply "Blossom, you-"

"They were planning an attack on this town Bubbles, and us" the leader reaffirmed. "It had to be done."

"What evidence do you even have for that? Everything pointed towards the exact opposite!" Bubbles raised her voice, clearly very angry at her sister.

"They attacked the police chief Bubbles, and were coming after us next."

"Blossom, I've been meeting up with them for months in secret. Even today before you discovered us! And they weren't planning anything. They didn't want to fight you not because they were plotting against you, but because they were afraid that you'd do what you did!"

"They were using you to get to us Bubbles."

"Again, how would you know that? You're not the one who played tag, video games, or sports games with them, or brought them food when they were starving, or helped me with martial arts training, or with my homework and praised me and gave me encouragement in being a superhero!"

"All follys to trick you Bubbles. You are not to leave this city at all without my permission from now on, understand?" The pink Powerpuff turned her back again to the both of them.

"You can't do that."

"Yes I can. The same goes to you Buttercup, you are both to follow my orders and only mine."

"You almost just arrested three innocent boys because you couldn't handle the fact that you were wrong!" the blue puff shot back. "How can anyone follow your orders after that?"

"I am not wrong Bubbles. I have to protect this city, and I'm not going to let that idiot red leader of theirs have even a grain of it!"

"You'll never compare to Brick!"

There was a pause after this, then followed by the blonde Powerpuff turning and instantly flying away, unable to hold in the tears of anger anymore. Blossom did not say anything, but just floated there still with her back to Buttercup. Her expression had definitely changed now, and didn't look as threatening or as authoritarian as before.

Her green sister still remained silent, having watched the exchange between her siblings.

Blossom didn't know why but for some reason she felt like she needed some reassurance, and looked down to see the Professor and Mrs Innlost standing by city hall, looking at all the aftermath.

She floated down towards Wendy. "Mrs Innlost, I'm sure you're glad to be free of them, right?"

The scientist woman didn't say anything back. Instead she just rushed to her car and got into the driver's seat. "I have to find them John" she said through the window, to which the Professor gave an understanding nod, and then she drove off leaving for where she hoped her sons to be.

"Blossom" the Professor then began. "You'd better have a good reason to why you got the boys into all this trouble" he said very sternly.

"I do Professor, it's because-"

"Excuse me, Professor" they heard Ms Bellum's voice call over from in front of city hall, standing next to the mayor. "Could you come over and explain something for us please?"

"Of course Ms Bellum. Blossom, we are not finished" he warned his daughter before going to meet the mayor and secretary.

The pink Powerpuff tried to justify herself in her mind. 'No, I am right. I'm sure I am.'

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Bubbles flew over the rooftops of the city, wanting to get as far away as possible. She briefly looked in the direction that the boys had fled, and held out her arm as if she wanted to follow. Feeling her lip tremble again and the tears building up, she continued to fly over the buildings, crying louder into her hands. Even louder than the time Buttercup destroyed her chalk on the playground.

Finally landing on a rooftop, she cried leaning against an air vent, and became quieter, not wanting people to hear her. The boys could be in massive trouble. They could be hunted down and thrown into another terrible prison. One just like that offshore prison that was recently shut down.

Oh why did people have to hate them? Why did the whole media have to be against them? Why was it such a stigma to come out in support of them? She wondered if people were against the ruffs not because it was their own opinion but because it was a trendy popular thing to do.

Wiping her face with her arms, she suddenly had a look of determination on her tear stained face. She had to know if the boys were okay she had to know that the Founders police were not hunting them down. She took off, and headed in the direction of Founders city.

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What seemed like the longest drive of her life, Wendy finally managed to reach Founders where she parked outside her house as quick as she could, and rushed in hoping to see the boys.

Turning on the lights she called out: "Boys! Boys are you here? Brick? Boomer? Butch?" she sounded distressed and desperate. She then heard a noise coming from upstairs and rushed up hopeful to see. "Boys?" she opened their bedroom door, and didn't see her sons, but instead the blonde Powerpuff who had gotten in through the window.

"Bubbles?"

"Mrs Innlost? I'm sorry, I was looking for the boys. I wanted to see if they were alright. Are they here?" the puff asked with hopeful eyes.

Wendy sighed sadly "No, if they didn't come here I don't know where they'd be" she sounded as equally worried.

"You don't think the police got them do you-?" Bubbles suddenly thought but Wendy quickly assured her.

"No no, I phoned my dad on the way here and told him all about what happened. He said that neither he nor any Founders police station have the boys, but will keep a lookout for them."

"Then where are they?"

"We'll have to look for them, here take this" the scientist handed the girl a small earpiece. "We'll stay in contact and let each other know if we find anything."

Bubbles took it and placed it in her ear. "I'll look on the rooftops and high up, you look on the ground." They both nodded and split up, leaving the house to search far across the city.

Getting back into her car, the Rowdyruff mother looked up at the darkening sky with worry etched onto her face. "Oh boys please be safe."

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Flying over the Founders skyline, Bubbles scanned every inch of every rooftop among the buildings. Once she had searched over those, she headed over to the more run down areas of the city, looking into all the possible hideouts through the area with her x-ray vision.

Still yet there was no sign of them whatsoever. She even listened out with her super hearing, thinking that this was the best way to locate them. But with the many voices she heard, the three boys were not among them.

Going through all the places she played with them, the clouds, over the sea, and yet not a trace. An idea then came to her. The warehouse where they used to live. They had to be there, it was the most likely place.

Immediately zooming to said place, the puff flew in through the top window and looked to see no one, except of course Wendy. The scientist looked up and met eyes with the puff. Turns out they had the same idea, and both exchanged a look as to say 'Nothing'.

They left and Wendy continued to drive through the back streets and roads hoping to catch a glimpse of anything resembling a Rowdyruff. It became pretty difficult since it started to rain rather heavily, that and it was now night. The worst part was, she couldn't ask anyone, not even police officers, if they had seen the boys as that would reveal that she was the Rowdyruff mother.

She could do nothing more than to keep searching and glance into all the back alleys and any other possible places she thought they might be. She couldn't track them since the devices used to do so were in their belts that they had left with the police in Townsville. And now the boys were out there in the pouring rain, all soaked and probably shivering. Where could they be?

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Bubbles was still not having so much luck with her search. She was forced to take shelter for a little while when it began to pour down. She floated under a small ledge on the side of a building to keep dry, and figured to herself that she was acting like a squirrel almost doing this.

'Squirrel!' she suddenly thought. That little park woodland area near a lake where Boomer showed the squirrel whom he made a home for. The boys said that used to be the place where they'd wash themselves when they were still homeless. The Powerpuff wasn't sure, but it was the only place she hadn't looked yet.

Zipping through the sky with rain splattering her face, which was more intense as she was higher up, she made it to the woodland park area and used her x-ray vision to search. And would you have it, there taking shelter underneath a tree were the three figures she had been desperately trying to find.

Bubbles immediately got onto the comm. "Mrs Innlost, I've found them! I've found them! They're in the woodland park area." She flew down into the woods, and saw the ruffs sat close to each other under a tree, all looking sadly down at the ground, not speaking at all.

It seemed as if they had already argued and had nothing else to say, which explained why Bubbles couldn't hear them with her super hearing. However they did hear her, when she landed on the wet ground, and they all turned expecting to see a normal passer by. But then again who would be out this late in the rain?

Their eyes widened when they saw their most faithful companion looking very relieved and happy only a few feet away. It was clear she had been searching for them, and they stood up to greet her. The girl instantly with super speed zoomed forward and embraced all three Rowdyruff boys, trying to hug them all with her tiny arms. The boys didn't say anything but simply smiled and, even Butch, slightly hugged her back.

Car headlights then approached from just outside the woodland area, and the sound of someone running through the woods towards them was heard.

Out of the trees with a torch in hand and umbrella in the other, Wendy appeared, seeming exhausted scared and hopeful. But any fear she had immediately left when she laid eyes on the three boys she had been longing to find.

They saw her too, and each of their faces lit up in the cold rain upon seeing their parent. Both them and her rushed towards each other, dropping the umbrella and the torch, Wendy finally wrapped her arms around her adoptive children, embracing them and holding them very tightly. A relieved wide smile of a mother appeared on her face, not bothered at all by the downpouring weather.

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Blossom and Buttercup were both home now, and the Professor hadn't had the chance yet to talk to his pink daughter, as he was too busy trying to find his blue one. They had not seen Bubbles since she ran off earlier after that argument with Blossom. Of course the most obvious answer was she was out looking for the boys, though the Professor did not have Wendy's mobile number so he couldn't ask if Bubbles was with her.

Blossom wasn't excluded from feeling extremely worried about her sister, though she still felt justified in 'exiling' the Rowdyruffs. She figured her blue sister would come to her senses once she was found.

That's when the girl's hotline phone beeped and the pink Powerpuff flew over and answered "Yes Mayor?"

" _Blossom, I need you and Buttercup to come down here."_

"Have you found Bubbles? Did you call the chief of Founders city?"

" _Uh, no Bubbles is not here, and Ms Bellum has advised me not to call the city of Founders, and third, please come down here quick! We have a problem!"_

"Uh, sure Mr Mayor, we're on our way." She put the phone down. "Buttercup, we're needed at city hall" she called to her sister, and both the Powerpuffs told the Professor they had to go, before heading out to the inner city.

The trip was silent between the two siblings. They hadn't spoken much since the events earlier that evening. Buttercup did briefly break the silence however during the flight. "So what's going on now then?"

"I dunno, the mayor didn't exactly say, though it sounded urgent-"

The girls all of a sudden heard an explosion not too far from them, and knew instantly that this was what the mayor was talking about. Gliding over to investigate, the Powerpuffs on top a building saw two small figures, who actually were the same height as them, and not to mention figure. They seemed to have ripped off part of the building and was now on fire.

At first glance, Blossom thought that her suspicions had just been confirmed with the figures looking exactly like the boys. "Ha! See! I knew it! You thought you could-, wait," at second glance and looking a lot closer, both Blossom and Buttercup could see that this was not in fact the Rowdyruffs. They were wearing different clothes, their hair was different, and they were, girls?

"I told you this would get their attention" a girl's voice came from behind and the pink and green sisters turned to see another girl like them floating there, dressed in a red sleeveless shirt and red plaid skirt, with messy red ribbons in her hair, she looked almost exactly like Blossom herself, with the pink eyes and ginger hair and everything. By the looks of her, plus her floating, she was a chemical X user.

The girl then motioned with her head to the two others behind Blossom and Buttercup, signalling them to fly straight at the Powerpuffs and hit them from behind.

Knocked back to another rooftop, the two puffs whom were very taken aback, especially Blossom, managed to get to their feet, and take a good look at these three other chemical X'ers.

They too were almost like counterparts, just like the Rowdyruffs were. The blue one was blonde, just like Bubbles, except her hair was longer and had bows. She wore a blue tank top and skirt, with white tights and black boots. Bangles on her arms.

And the green one, looking very similar to Buttercup, had black messy hair accompanied by a dress and boots of the same colour. In addition to fishnet stockings and spiked bracelets and a belt.

The three of them floated there, glaring down at the puffs, which alone, started to break apart part of Blossom's narrative, about the boys making this 'other girls' thing up.

"Wha-, but, who are you?" the pink Powerpuff asked baffled.

They didn't answer her question, instead the pink Blossom counterpart just glanced back at the other two. "Ian wants them brought in alive, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun with 'em first." She motioned with her arm and the two others lunged at Blossom and Buttercup.

The puffs only just managed to dodge them but quickly had to take a fighting stance when these counterparts of theirs flew back around and engaged them in hand to hand combat. They seemed to be capable fighters, with strength rivalling theirs. Buttercup was matched with her green counterpart, whilst Blossom was busy handling the blue one.

"Brat" the pink counterpart to Blossom suddenly called. "Help Brute, I'll handle this one."

The blue girl smirked and attacked the green puff instead, now giving Buttercup two opponents at once to fight.

Before Blossom could even help her sister, the other pink girl flew before her. "I wouldn't bother leader girl, it won't be long until my sisters subdue yours."

Although still filled with tons of questions, Blossom could only ask this girl one. "Who, are you?"

"Oh, little ol' me? The one who's going to capture you of course, but for simplicities sake, just call me Berserk." The girl fired a beam a heat vision which Blossom barely dodged.

"But, how can you be here? I mean, that was just a lie, you're not real-" Blossom tried to make sense of everything happening right in front of her.

"Pfft, 'not real'" Berserk mocked. "We witnessed the whole event with you and those 'ruff' boys or something earlier. And by the way, well done, it takes remarkable talent to trick a whole city into thinking those boys were evil."

"That wasn't a trick!" Blossom defended. "They were evil, right?" Now for the first time, the Powerpuff looked doubtful.

Berserk took this chance to swing at Blossom, and struck her dead on. The Powerpuff flew backwards into the side of another building. At that point it was clear to Blossom she was in for a tough fight, and decided to hopefully end it now with her ice breath. But when she tried to use it, her counterpart, this Berserk girl, turned out to have an ice breath power of her own, and the forces of both only created a large ice block between the two, which fell to the ground.

When that didn't work, the Powerpuff saw the messy ribbons in her opponent's hair and seized them, attempting to pull them. But said opponent grabbed her own ribbons too, pulling them back as well as the puff.

Berserk fired heat vision again, and the two kept going back and forth with their powers abilities and punches over the city.

Buttercup was doing her absolute best to fend off two attackers at once. She kept throwing swings and kicks, but the other girls kept dodging her messy blows. Whenever Buttercup tried to hit one of them, the other managed to land a punch on her, and not to mention their powers, as that seemed to wear down Buttercup even further. Not only did this Brute girl match the strength of herself, but taking on another chemical X user at the same time was something Buttercup was not going to have a victory over.

"Where did you girls come from?" the green Powerpuff demanded.

"That doesn't matter sweetie" Brat replied in a faux caring tone. "The point is we're here to take you."

"Take me out?"

"No, just take you" Brute answered before landing one final punch on Buttercup, knocking her down to a nearby rooftop.

The powerpuff wasn't about to give up. She stumbled to her feet, and attempted to stand. "If you think, you can, defeat me, I'll-" suddenly she felt a dart prick her neck. "Ah!" she pulled it out, and looked in horror as she realised it was an antidote X vial, inside a tranquiliser dart. She started to feel light headed, and began to wobble. Before she passed out though, she swore she heard the voice of a man.

"Excellent work girls." Stepping out of the shadows, a very unusual looking man with a tranquiliser gun congratulated them. He wore jeans trainers and a blue jacket, as well as a baseball cap, and what was most unusual was his face. It looked like it had been decaying. His skin on his face and hands was turning blue, with parts of it peeling. Though his eyeballs and jaw still moved normally.

"Brat, take this dart and blow pipe, go and help your sister." He threw it to her. She nodded and flew off. "Brute, take this one to the hideout for me" he referred to the unconscious Buttercup.

Blossom and Berserk were locked in a stalemate, neither able to get an advantage on the other. When Brat approached the two girls, she smiled to Berserk, whom nodded to her, and Brat proceeded to blast Blossom with her heat vision, distracting the puff, and giving the chance for Berserk to hit her down on top a building.

Landing on Blossom and pinning her down, Berserk simply just laughed evilly at the pink puff leader.

"What-, but, you can't even-, what do you want with us?" questioned a helpless Blossom.

"You'll see. We're the Powerpunk girls pinky, we don't answer to you." Berserk held Blossom's arms down and called out "Now Brat!"

"Wait, no!" Blossom tried to shout but Brat had hit her with the tranquiliser making her pass out.

Berserk got up. "Like I said Brat, we wait until they run those boys out of town, as well as their own blue sister, and then we swoop in for the kill."

"Three against two" grinned Brat as she picked up unconscious Blossom. "Perfect idea."

Flying back to their leader, they awaited the next commands. "Here you go Ian, two perfect lab rats right here."

"Indeed" Ian remarked. "No doubt their blue sister will come back any time now. Be ready. Oh, and once you have her, grab you know who in Founders city. That widowed scientist is the only one who knows more about this chemical, she'll be useful."

 **Hello again everyone! Sorry to keep you all waiting, and my I had some great reviews since the last update. Enjoy this chapter. Things are really going down now.**

 **Thanks to Vip189, John, Saladfisher265 and Narya Anima for reviewing.**

 **To Butters: Don't worry, you'll see the reds and greens interact a lot more in the upcoming chapters, thanks again.**

 **To ppg1998: I know what you mean. What I was trying to aim for in terms of writing Brick, and in terms of this story, was to make him sort of a no nonsense all business no time for play sort of character, especially after being released from the prison, realising that it was his childish decisions that got his brothers into all that trouble. I guess in this he sorta had to grow up quickly to look after Boomer and Butch, and eventually when he starts to fight crime too. Though I suppose he would still play with them, if ever he was in a good mood, and they beg him ;) Thanks for the review I really appreciate it.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	28. Prisoners

The rain in Founders city was letting up and the three boys, Bubbles and Wendy were sat inside her car drying themselves off. "I'm sorry I didn't take the boys and myself home mom, I couldn't risk it, as we heard Blossom say she wanted the Founders police force out looking for us" Brick explained wiping his face with a towel.

"I know what you were trying to do honey, but it's okay, the police aren't looking for you. I called my father on the way here and explained everything to him. How you boys were falsely accused by Blossom, and were chased out of the city" their mother assured.

"Did he believe you?" asked Boomer.

"He said he wouldn't send any police out to look for you, but he wanted to see some evidence just to be sure." The woman then turned to Bubbles. "Thanks for helping Bubbles, I'm extremely grateful, but I think the Professor's going to be very worried as of where you are. I think it's time you head back, and reconcile with your sisters."

The Powerpuff hesitated for second. "But what about the fact that Blossom still thinks they're evil?"

"The Professor knows that they aren't now, and he's probably explained that thoroughly to Blossom by now, and when you get home perhaps you should too" suggested the scientist.

The unsure puff had a quick glance at Brick, who just nodded to her as to say 'I know you can do it'. She smiled back and gave one last hug to the three boys before heading out back to Townsville herself.

The leader ruff then asked his parent "So about chief Mccoy, should we go and see him?"

"Yes you'd better. Here," she handed them her phone. "This has the recording of your interrogation of Sofia Folla on it, about these other chemical X users. It'd be better and quicker if you three boys fly there."

"What about you?" asked Boomer curious.

"I'm heading back to the house to pick up some spare's, of the gadgets you three left back in Townsville. Come back home as soon as you're done ." She started her car. "I'm so glad you boys are safe" she turned giving them all one final embrace before they waved to her and she headed off back to the house.

And glancing at each other, each of the boys flew off to speak with their adoptive grandfather, the chief of police.

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Finally reaching the city limits of her home, Bubbles repeated the only thoughts that had been playing in her head for the whole journey, what was she going to say? She knew the Professor would be very upset at her running off like that, and she wondered that perhaps her sisters were worried for her too. After what she said to Blossom she knew it would be tense and awkward meeting with her again. She just hoped what Wendy had suggested was right. Maybe by now the Professor had explained everything to Blossom and she had accepted. Hopefully.

As the puff got to the centre of the city, she came across a group of firefighters tackling a blaze on top a building. If there was a fire, that must've meant this was recent, and when she saw part of the building ripped off, this probably wasn't just some accidental fire. Did one of their villains attack, and Blossom and Buttercup headed out to face them? If they did, they've probably tackled it by now.

However, one of the firemen noticed her and called to her. "Bubbles! Bubbles down here!" She heard him and floated down to see what he wanted. "Bubbles, there you are. Are your sisters alright?"

"Alright? What do you mean alright?" wondered the puff becoming slightly anxious.

"Your sisters went to face some sort of enemy, and haven't been seen since. Was it those ruff boys?"

Now full fear took over the Powerpuff. Blossom and Buttercup gone? She had only been gone a few hours and now-, suddenly she saw a huge piece of rubble flying straight at them. "Look out!" she grabbed all the firefighters with her super speed flying them to another building before the rubble could hit them.

Both Bubbles and the firemen turned to see what had happened, and what they saw confirmed the blonde's worst fear. Three chemical X users, not the boys, but three other girls floated up towards them, which could only have been the other superpowered children the boys had warned them about. And, the ones who must've captured her sisters.

"Ian was right, she did show up" the girl that looked like Bubbles proclaimed looking back at the other girls and then at the puff again.

"I suppose you girls would like to fight her first before we take her?" the red headed girl that looked like Blossom assumed.

"Eh, won't be much of a challenge, there being only one of them this time" said the other that looked like Buttercup.

Bubbles, although she was normally scared pretty easy, she was more understandably frightened than ever before. Not because of what these girls had said, but because she knew they had her sisters somewhere, and were now targeting her. However despite being the most frightened she's ever been, for some reason she didn't show it, and instead stood up to the other girls. "Wha-, what have you done with Blossom and Buttercup?" she demanded in the sternest voice she could muster.

"Well you'll see once you join them, right girls?" Berserk gave that as the signal for Brat and Brute to attack, and the blue Powerpuff just managed to dodge the charge the two punks had launched at her.

They turned and pursued her, whilst the leader of the Powerpunks sat back mid air watching the show. The firemen that Bubbles had rescued, and who had seen everything, had left by this point.

Berserk then heard a voice come from a building below. "Berserk!" she turned to see her 'boss' Ian.

"What?" she asked with some attitude.

"Where are the other two? And where's the blue puff?" he demanded.

"Don't worry, Brat and Brute are on blondy's tail right now" Berserk dismissed waving her hand.

"And what if she decides to call out for those ruff boys? They have super hearing too y'know" scolded her boss, pulling his baseball further over his eyes.

Berserk sighed, knowing he was right. "Fine, I'll lure her to you." She zoomed off in the other chemical X users direction.

Bubbles tried to out maneuver the two girls, knowing she wouldn't win head on one against two. However, with her head being in a mess from all the recent events, she wasn't thinking straight and nearly hit a few buildings at times. It wasn't long before they caught up with her.

The blue girl that looked like her took a swing, but the puff remembered Butch's self defense technique, and pushed the forearm of the girl in the opposite direction, then used a palm strike on her, and kneed her in the stomach.

Brute tried to take a swing from behind, but Bubbles jerked her head out the way, grabbed Brute's arm and flipped her over mid air.

When Berserk arrived, she just looked down at her sisters performance and sighed, shaking her head. Quickly getting their attention, she pointed "Girls, Pigtails."

"Oh, right" Brat realised as she dashed behind Bubbles and grabbed the two pieces of blonde hair pulling them back, and while Bubbles was being pulled, it left her vulnerable for an attack by Brute who punched her knocking her back quite far and close to where Ian was standing on top the building.

Dazed from hitting several buildings, the puff was still determined not to let these other chemical X girls capture her, and immediately wanted to know where her sisters were. But however, she felt a small but sharp prick on her neck. "Ow!" she pulled it out to see a dart, a tranquiliser dart, with the tip made of Duranium. She opened her mouth to gasp but nothing came out as she started to become lightheaded and dizzy. It wasn't long before she blacked out completely and began to fall, only to be caught by Berserk.

"That's all three of them" announced the walking corpse on top the building lowering his rifle. "Brat, Brute, here's some chloroform" he threw it to the two girls. "Go and grab the scientist in Founders." They nodded and sped off.

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Wendy had arrived back at her house by now, heading down to the lab to pick up some spare gadgets for her sons for when they came back, as knowing Brick, he'd probably want to go straight back out on patrol. She'd advise against it of course. There was no doubt the media would run with the narrative that the boys attacked the girls in Townsville instead of vice versa and try to frame them, but that wouldn't stop him and his brothers from fighting crime tonight.

Grabbing what she needed and switching off the light, she walked up the stairs of the basement into her living room where-, that's strange, it was dark. She could've sworn she left the lights on in the living room before she went down to the- "Mmpphh!"

Something from behind slapped over Wendy's mouth with force holding some type of rag and causing her to drop all the stuff in her hands onto the floor. A struggle ensued, whoever was behind her was incredibly small, almost the same height as her sons. She smelt chloroform on the rag, and knocked over several objects on top of desks such as picture frames and flower pots. The struggling scientist heard two female voices.

"It's not working, she's not passing out" said the voice from behind her.

"You have to wait for the chloroform to take effect, keep holding her" said another whom Wendy couldn't see.

Desperately, since she couldn't call out to the boys, Wendy tried her best to grab her watch on her left wrist with her right hand, and only just managed to press the button on it, before finally becoming drowsy and passing out completely, falling to the floor.

"You could've just used a sleeper hold on her" Brat complained floating out of the shadows.

"Well you could've suggested that whilst she was struggling" Brute shot back, flying down to pick up the unconscious woman. "And you'd better help me carry her, this isn't like carrying one of those puffs."

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"So this is your 'conversation' with Folla? Shame I missed it when you fought her right before I arrested her" Police chief Mccoy sat back down in his office chair after listening to the recording on the phone Wendy gave them. "I'll call up Townsville, and see if there's anymore evidence about these 'other' girls."

The boys were relieved to know that he believed them, and that they were indeed innocent, and did not attack the Powerpuffs. "Thanks chief" said Brick on behalf of the three of them. "In the meantime me and the boys will continue to-"

Wendy's phone then started to beep, and flash a red screen. "What's it doing?" Mccoy sat up alarmed.

"That's the emergency signal" all three boys eyes widened.

"What does that mean?" inquired Mccoy.

"It means mom's in trouble, she only built that in to warn us when she needed immediate help. We've gotta head home" Brick announced heading to the window.

"My girl is in trouble? No it-, I'm sending squad cars to the house" the chief immediately got on the phone and began frantically dialing.

"Wait chief" Brick suddenly spoke up. "If you send your forces there, they'll only think we're the culprits."

"But I can't just-"

"Trust us chief, she can be more helped by us than your squads. Send them after we've dealt with it."

Mccoy knew this was true, the superpowered boys had a much better chance of helping Wendy than the amatuer officers. "Inform me what's happened as soon as you get there" he requested.

"What are we still doing here? Mom's in trouble c'mon!" Butch urged impatiently, and the three zipped out straight for their home.

When they got there, they saw the front door was open with their mother's keys still in it. "Whoever got in here used mom's keys to get out" observed Boomer as they all floated inside.

"But there was no sign of a break in" the red ruff looked around with his x-ray vision, only to see the mess on the living room floor as did his brothers.

"But they're signs of a scuffle" Butch stated.

"All the gadgets she had for us" Boomer looked them over, scattered on the carpet. He then spotted something else, a rag. He picked it up and both his brothers, like him, just stared at it.

Brick recognised it by the smell. "Chloroform." Floating over to the chimney, as before he couldn't help but notice soot markings from the fireplace, as if something came down it. "Whoever broke in and took mom was obviously small enough to fit through the chimney. About our height."

"You don't think-" implied Boomer, to which no one answered.

"Let's inform chief Mccoy on the computer down in the lab" Brick suggested as lead his brothers down and switched the lights on, logging on to tell the chief about their findings. "Chief, our mom's gone." Explained the red ruff to Mccoy who was listening on skype on his computer in his office. "We believe she's been kidnapped."

"By someone our height" added Boomer.

" _Kidnapped? Oh god, well listen boys, something's just come through after I called up Townsville. They sent me CCTV footage of around the rooftops of their city and this is what it revealed."_ Mccoy brought up the footage on the computer for the boys to see, and what it played out was the events from just an hour ago. Blossom and Buttercup both locked in battle with what appeared to be three other children like them. Chemical X users, who managed to overpower both puffs and drag them off somewhere.

"We were right! There are other chemical X kids!" Butch proclaimed.

"And look!" Boomer pointed when the footage was fast forwarded. "They've got Bubbles too!"

"They're probably the ones who also kidnapped mom, but what do they want with her? And the girls?" Butch questioned.

"Ian" Brick remembered. "Given how he's sort of a chemical X being, and how mom is the co-creator of it, my guess is he wants her for information, or least something to do with the substance that brought him back to life. But what does he want with the girls?"

"And where did those other girls helping him come from?" questioned Butch again.

"Chief, keep your men on the lookout for any signs of these girls in Founders city, we'll do our best to track down Wendy and the Powerpuffs" advised Brick.

The worried but professional police chief followed this and said to update him if there's any news. Logging off of skype, the leader Rowdyruff pulled something out from under his red cap. A small little evidence bag of something.

"What's that?" eyed is green brother.

"This is a small little compound that I scraped up from where those girls had attacked in the police station, remember?"

"I thought you left that back there when the police made us drop everything?"

"I hid it just before." The red ruff placed it in the evidence analyser to determine what material this was. "Okay" he began. "The computer is saying that this is the something found on rocks near coastline. Not the sort of thing you'll find in a police station."

"So these girls are located near a beach?" suggested the blond ruff.

"Not quite" Brick put his stubbed hand to his chin. "Ian managed to supply Duranium to Sofia Folla. Wherever they are there must be an abundance of it."

"Not to mention that if they were located by the shore of the city, they would've been spotted by the coastguard or a pedestrian by now" Butch spoke up.

Glancing around at the desk of previous case files by Brick, one in particular caught the ruff's eye. The fire of that old offshore prison they were once incarcerated in, which he suspected was started on purpose. The electrical wires seemed to have been zapped with something. Heat vision, of course!

Brick grabbed the paper with the case file. "This is where they are."

"The offshore prison?" Butch looked over the file. "What are they doing there?"

"That place was set ablaze deliberately so they could use it as a hideout after it was abandoned. It's filled to the brim with Duranium that was installed to keep us in when we were inmates, plus it's easy for them to get to given their powers."

"How do you know for sure?"

"It's the most likely place for them to be."

"That prison where we were beaten, and left in the cold and isolated?" Boomer said blatantly with sadness in his voice at the memories. "And now mom and the girls are being held hostage there. Let's go!" he suddenly and determinedly proclaimed.

"Let's at least inspect it first" advised the leader. However before either of them could leave, the green Rowdyruff still had some final words of protest in him.

"Whoa whoa, wait a minute, are we actually going to rescue these girls? The puffs I mean. Bubbles I understand but as with the other two, especially Blossom, why on earth should they even get an ounce of our help?"

"Butch I know what you're trying to say, but that doesn't matter right now" Brick tried to reason.

"We're talking about the girls who fought us, defeated us, spied on us, and then refused to believe us when we were actually trying to help them! Right before casting us out of Townsville and forcing us to flee, rallying an entire hate mob against us, as well as trying to turn the Founders police against us! Don't you realise that?" Butch ranted.

There was a pause, and the red leader calmly replied "Yes, and those same girls who fought us, defeated us, spied on us, and refused to believe us when we were trying to help them right before casting us out of Townsville forcing us to flee rallying a hate mob against us and trying to turn the Founders police on us, are now in danger, and it's our job to save them, because that's what we do now Butch. You can stay here if you want, but going up against foes like this, I admit, I'm going to need you. You and your skills. And we both know you don't want to see either mom or Bubbles hurt, do you?"

Butch turned away, not saying anything and still looking cross. He finally answered with "I'm going to help you rescue them, for mom and for Bubbles, and perhaps maybe Buttercup as well for believing us right at the end, but I am definitely not doing it for Blossom or because I like the puffs, understand?"

"Of course, now grab your gadgets you two, our first stop is Townsville, then the island" Brick instructed.

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Bubbles began to regain consciousness and opened her eyes slowly. Her head was spinning and she felt hard ground underneath he. Pushing herself up she seemed to be in some sort of cage, next to the wall in quite a large room. The last thing she remembered was fighting these other super powered girls who she knew had taken her sisters, before feeling a prick in the neck and blacking out. She still felt slightly weak, and had no idea where she was. Her heart leapt a bit however when she heard a familiar voice.

"Bubbles! You're awake!"

The blonde turned and saw her pink sister fly to her side. It turned out Blossom and Buttercup were in the same cage as she was. "Blossom? Buttercup? You're here!" The two sisters embraced each other, forgetting for a moment all the conflict that had happened between them.

"So they did get you, those other girls. When was I brought here?" asked Bubbles ending the hug.

"Those punk girls brought you in here unconscious just a while ago. We were going to use that as an opportunity to escape but we still felt too drowsy to do it" Buttercup explained floating towards her.

"Punk girls?" repeated Bubbles.

"That's what they're calling themselves, the Powerpunk girls. We fought them and they managed to tranquilise us a while after you ran away. We woke up here in a cage with solid Duranium bars" Blossom explained with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Thing is, it wasn't those girls who shot me" Buttercup remembered. "I heard a voice just before I passed out. It was-"

A door suddenly swung open at one end of the large room, and in floated the three girls that almost looked identical to them, floating up to the cage. "Oh you're all awake. We only came in here to check on you all, and it seems even now fully conscious, you still can't break out these Duranium bars" Berserk observed.

"Where did you three even come from?" questioned Blossom, who was still getting over the fact that these three even existed.

"It's complicated. Long story short we came from another dimension. Through an old mirror. It sounds ridiculous I know but Ian was the first one who found us."

"Ian? Wait, you mean he's real too? _Everything_ that Mrs Innlost told us was true?" Blossom inquired surprised.

"Everything that the boys were trying to tell us was true!" Bubbles even now still could not believe her sister's ignorance.

"I think it's best to leave you three to talk amongst yourselves for now" Berserk figured.

"Before the experimenting begins anyway" added Brute, before realising maybe she shouldn't have said that.

"Experimenting? Wha-, what do you mean?" Buttercup wondered.

The Powerpunk leader sighed and glared at her sister for a second. "Eh, there's no point keeping it a secret now. Ian in the other room there, has tons of medical equipment that's he's been secretly dealing for over the past few months. I assume you've been told he's practically a walking corpse? That's because he is. The chemical X brought him back to life over a period of time, after being experimented on himself with it by Innlost and her husband. Now he wants to discover the secrets of that chemical."

"What do you three get out of it?" questioned Bubbles.

"What _don't_ we get out of it?" Brat mocked. "Ian promised to enhance our powers as soon as he unlocked the secrets of chemical X. Oh just think how powerful we'll be!"

"And the only way to capture chemical X users, was with chemical X users. So he recruited us, not only to subdue you but to sabotage this prison and rob that bank in Townsville to pay for all that equipment" explained Berserk.

"Prison?" said Buttercup.

"That's where you are. An offshore prison. Oh, and don't bother calling for the boys because if you do we'll hurt poor old Mrs Innlost in there."

"You have her too!" exclaimed Bubbles grabbing the bars of the cage.

Using her X-ray vision, Blossom could see Wendy unconscious in a cell in the next room, along with an abundance of medical equipment outside of it. "They're not kidding."

"Anytime you refuse to cooperate, a bone of hers breaks" Berserk and the punks left with that threat, heading out to keep a lookout for anything approaching the island.

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Mrs Innlost finally regained consciousness, waking in a completely different environment to her house. She was in some sort of cell, and when she stood up, she saw that she had handcuffs on. Feeling slightly afraid, but refusing to let it show and keeping her cool, the scientist approached the bars and looked at what was on the other side.

There were tables scattered with medical tools that she recognised as ones used for human experimentation. This made her fear grow even more slightly and hoped this wasn't meant for her. Then again, she'd rather have it be her than anyone else.

Looking over to the left, she saw a man at a computer with his back to her, wearing a blue jacket and cap. The odd thing was, though she couldn't get a clear view of it from here, his skin looked oddly, blueish. He suddenly turned his head towards her direction, making her jump back a bit.

He stopped working at the computer and approached her cell. Now more close, Wendy could get a better view of this man, and his skin was indeed turning blue, and not only that, but it was too rotting, peeling and decaying. The sight was almost enough to make her feel sick, but nethertheless, she recognised him. "Ian? You, are him. But how?"

The man didn't say anything for a second, but then answered "Chemical X was how Wendy. Didn't Mark originally intend it to bring back the dead?" His jaw moved in an awkward way when he spoke.

"Yes but, how do you even know this? You were dead. How are you even here? How do you even know who Mark and I are?" asked Wendy baffled, shaking her head.

"Well after you and your husband left me in that capsule without giving me a proper burial or anything,"

Wendy looked away slightly. Guilt filling her as she only just realised that she and Mark kinda just left Ian's body to be forgotten after they were done experimenting with it. And when Mark died she forgot about it almost completely.

"Oh don't worry I'm glad you didn't" Ian saw her expression. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to be here now. However it wasn't exactly a walk in the park, after I woke up either."

"So the chemical did work, it did bring you back from the dead" stated Wendy.

"Only after several years, of my body decaying and rotting away. I broke out of the capsule only to see myself in a mirror. I look like a zombie" Ian woed. "What could I do at that point? Go out in broad daylight? Start a new life from there, I'm officially dead! If I had known I would end up in the hands of you and your cutting and dissecting spouse, I would never have donated my body for research!" he turned his back to her.

"We thought the experiment failed Ian" Wendy protested. "Mark thought chemical X wasn't strong enough, we had no idea that the remainder of it inside you would bring you back to life! How do you even find out it was us anyway?"

"I hacked into the computers and data bases of the storage room where was kept. Hiding in there for years I managed to learn a few things." He turned to face her again. "I also learnt that it was the Innlosts who experimented on me, found all the information on you and your research files that I could. What the chemical was, what it was originally intended to be for, how it created those Powerpuff girls, and how Mark died from cancer not too long ago as a result from radiation exposure. I assume, he did that whilst working on the chemical?"

Wendy didn't say anything, but just turned away sadly.

"Hm, Ironic. Well I guess we're similar, Mark and I. He's dead, and I can't live a life like this" Ian referred to his decaying skin.

"There still may be hope for you Ian-"

"What like this?" the corpse man held up his hands, shouting suddenly. "I had to hide in isolation for ages. Only going out at night, having to hide my face every time I did so. There's no way to 'un-decay' me."

"If you've accepted you can't go back, what are you doing with all of this?" Wendy looked at all the equipment.

"Because I want to know how this chemical works. If this chemical can bring me back from the dead over time, just think what I can do once I know how to properly use it. Once I perfect it" he turned his back to her again. "I could bring people back instantly! And not only that," he turned to her again shaking his finger. "But if it gave those girls in there powers, I could probably unlock the secrets of that too!"

"Girls in there? What do you mean?" inquired Wendy becoming worried again, hoping he was talking about those other chemical X girls that worked for him.

That's when Brat flew into the room, whom the scientist woman concluded must've been part of the girls that kidnapped her.

"Ian, the puffs are secure, Berserk and Brute are guarding the island like you ordered" informed the Bubbles counterpart.

"Puff girls? No!" Wendy exclaimed, confirming her fears.

"Well done Brat, go and guard them. They're going to be my lab rats Wendy" he said turning back to the woman. "The mirror where I first looked at myself after 'waking', turned out to be a portal, to somewhere you wouldn't believe. And I met the Powerpunk girls, and struck a deal with them to capture the puffs. Of course at the time I had never even heard of your 'ruff sons' and was very surprised to find that they existed too. That's why I didn't plan on capturing them, though they won't find us here, I assure you."

"What do you want me for?" Wendy questioned.

Ian just simply pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked Wendy's handcuffs, as well as the cell she was in. He pushed the bars to the side and simply stated "You're going to help me experiment on the Powerpuffs."

Taken aback a bit how he just set her free like that, the scientist simply folded her arms and disgustedly said "I'll never do such a thing."

"Even if it means bringing people back from the dead?"

"Never" she persisted.

"Think though Wendy, with this, we could bring Mark back."

Now at this, the scientist woman was at a complete loss for words, only looking up and managing to say "What?" with a hint of curiosity.

"My girls told me what your house looked like when they kidnapped you. How you still have his clothes carefully preserved in a wardrobe, how it still looked as if you slept on your side of the bed. I bet you still even wash his clothes don't you?"

Wendy didn't say a word, but looked very, _very_ conflicted.

"The offer is yours. You could have the love of your life back again, _and_ I'll leave you and your sons alone afterwards. You could be an actual proper family, and Mark won't look anything like me. All you have to do is assist me in this" Ian propositioned, to the very tempted looking scientist.

 **So uh, hey everyone. I know I've been away for so long, and haven't updated in almost three weeks, but here's the latest chapter where we see both Bubbles and Wendy now too captured by the Powerpunks, and the boys figuring out where they are. I loved writing the Ian part though as it was quite interesting, and next chapter we'll see Blossom fully come to terms with what she's done and how remorseful she is, as well as the rescue attempt by the boys. Have a very happy Halloween everyone too! And sorry again for being so late.**

 **Thanks to Narya Anima, Vip189, and John for reviewing and sorry for the wait Saladfisher265.**

 **Ppg1998: I have a plan for Brick and Antidote X, and thanks, I can't believe it's been a year since I started this.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	29. Attempted escape

Desperately pacing up and down the living room, Professor John Utonium was on the phone with the mayor and Ms Bellum frantic about where his girls had gone. Witnesses, including the firemen Bubbles had rescued, had reported the girls being kidnapped and taken by apparently three other girls with the same powers. No doubt the girls Wendy and the boys were trying to warn them about.

"Did anyone see where they went? Any clues left behind?" the Professor desperately asked.

" _I'm sorry John but at the moment the police haven't found anything of the sort. We'll keep you posted if anything comes up within seconds. Just try to stay calm"_ Ms Bellum advised over the phone as the Professor continued to pace around, deciding it was best to do so.

"Yes yes alright, I'll try to keep calm, just let me know the instant anything comes up okay?" He hung up and there was a brief few seconds where he had no idea what to do in finding his daughters. Until something hopeful literally crashed through his front door in the form of three other super powered kids.

The Professor ducked and glanced up at three boys floating there in his living room. "Professor Utonium?" said the red boy looking down at him.

"Brick? Boys? What are you doing here-?"

"We heard what happened. How the girls have been taken, by those three other kids" Boomer blurted out.

"Our mom has been taken too, and believe they're on the offshore prison island" informed Brick as the Professor dusted himself off.

"Wendy's gone too? What makes you think they're on that island?"

Brick proceeded to explain all the evidence they had that concluded them to believe Wendy and the girls were at said location. "If you think about it, it all makes sense. Where else would they get such a supply of Duranium from?"

"You're absolutely positive that's where they are?"

"It's the most likely conclusion" said Butch.

"Alright, you obviously came to me for a reason, what do you need me to do?" asked the Professor. "I'll help you as long as it gets my girls and your mother back."

"Take this earpiece and stay in touch with us. We have to have someone back on the mainland in case we need anything" the red ruff handed him the piece.

"What about chief Mccoy?" the Professor inquired.

"Him too, but we figured we needed a scientist like mom, just in case."

Something about that statement made the Professor feel uneasy, but it didn't deter him and placed in the ear piece as the boys flew out. "Inform me about the girls as soon as you find them okay!" he called out as they zoomed off, and headed immediately to his computer.

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Constantly slamming into the bars of the Duranium cage over and over, hardly making a single dent in it at all, Blossom was desperately trying to break her and her sisters free at any cost, to avoid being experimented on like lab rats.

Buttercup had tried earlier, and even she couldn't break those bars, nor the roof or floor of the cage. Bubbles was just huddled up in the corner of the cage, hugging her knees to her chest not saying word.

Heat vision, tornado generation, super strength, not even Blossom's ice breath would work as the bars were heated. "C'mon. Just break already!" she said in a very half hearted tone.

"Forget it Bloss, you've tried, we've tried, there isn't anyway to get out of this" Buttercup advised in a defeated voice.

"But we can't just- we-, Bubbles!" the pink puff flew over to her blue sister. "Use your sonic scream on the bars, or something, or anything!"

However the normally cheery Powerpuff simply buried part of her face into her knees and answered "What's the point? We're only gonna get defeated by the Powerpunk girls anyway."

"C'mon we can take 'em, we have to!" Blossom desperately tried to rally her sisters.

"They have antidote X Blossom, we'll just lose" Bubbles dismissed again.

"Not if we form a plan of some sort!"

"Ha, Plan" the blonde mocked. "It was your planning and leadership that got us into this mess in the first place."

"I didn't know this would happen" Blossom defended.

"You were so blinded by your prejudice of the boys, and so suspicious that they were evil, you ignored all the warnings they were trying to give us about these girls" Bubbles painfully and truthfully told her. "If you had just listened we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"I didn't think the boys had changed" Blossom said quietly.

"No, you didn't, despite all the evidence saying otherwise!" the blue girl threw her arms in the air letting go of her knees. "Not all those crimes they solved! Not refusing to fight us when they met us again! Not the fact that I was meeting up with them for months and didn't harm me at all! No, nothing would persuade you would it! It was all, 'I'm leader and I know what's best for us'."

"Why, why did you keep meeting with the boys Bubbles?" asked Blossom genuinely wanting to know putting a hand on her other arm. "I get that you wanted to help them at first when they were starving and homeless and such, but when they finally had a home, why did you keep going back?"

"Because I saw that they were changing. Because I genuinely had fun with them. They even helped me Blossom. Butch showed me so many martial arts moves and attacks,"

"So that's where you learned those moves from" Buttercup interjected.

"And Brick helped me with my homework and grades in general, so many times when you refused to" the ranting Bubbles continued.

"Why did I refuse to?" Blossom couldn't remember.

"Because you were too busy trying to prove that they were evil!" exclaimed the blonde standing up. "It even got to the point where you were believing anything the media were saying about them, just to confirm your own bias. You didn't bother finding the boys and hearing what they had to say themselves, and when you finally did you just ignored it. You didn't bother to look at all the crime happening in Founders, and how much they helped to stop it, you even ignored Mrs Innlost! One of the most genuine people I've ever met! No, you just wanted to be some sort of hero and wouldn't accept opposing opinions!"

"I wasn't trying to be 'some sort of hero', I was genuinely concerned for the town" defended Blossom.

"It may have come from a good place, but the way you went about it was just so backwards! Look where we are now Blossom! If you had just listened we would've defeated those Powerpunk girls by now!" Bubbles had gotten everything she had been wanting to say off her chest now, and believe me she did not like shouting at her sister, but she had just been so unbearable the past few weeks that it was hard not to. "You even froze me Blossom." She said that final part quietly, before turning around and sitting back down again hugging her knees, her back to her redhead.

Blossom didn't have anything else to argue. It had come to her, Bubbles was right. And she, she was so wrong. Everything her blue sister had said, it was the truth. The hard truth. The Rowdyruff boys had been innocent this whole time. And now she had gotten her sisters into something that they might not be able to get out of this time, and it was all because she didn't listen, because of her own bias, for her own ego. "Bubbles," she tried to say shakingly. "I'm, i'm sorry, I didn't want-, I didn't mean for-, oh," she started to sniff. "I, I was so wrong." The pink Powerpuff didn't hold it in anymore, she sat with her back against the bars and began to cry into her stubbed hands. There was nothing else she could do now.

She was so sure though. At first the thought of three villains returning after being released from prison just spelled trouble. Every time one of their usual enemies was released they started committing crimes again in less than a week. And that first news report she watched about them which said they were a part of a riot, she just blindly assumed that was true. In fact the media had fueled a lot of her own bias, and she didn't even bother to investigate further into what the boys were doing other than false accusations about them. She wondered why she couldn't get any real evidence on them. But she just let her own moral superiority take over and wouldn't go back on it, until now of course.

As the pink girl continued to sob, Bubbles was silently crying into her knees too, facing the bars. She did hear her sister, but there was no point trying to talk to her after her own outburst. Though it was hard not to. Buttercup didn't say anything either and just hopelessly sat there in silence.

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Half an hour had passed, and Blossom had pretty much drained both her tear ducts by now. Bubbles was still quietly sniffing into her knees. All three were still silent, and each were wondering if Mrs Innlost in the other room was okay. Brat had been guarding them for a bit now, though she eventually fell asleep due to boredom. It wasn't long however before she woke up again and proceeded to do what she did before, taunt the puffs.

"Well it shouldn't be long now until Ian wants to experiment on you, good luck surviving by the way."

None of the Powerpuffs could be bothered to respond at this point.

"He promised Mrs Innlost her freedom if she ever decides to help, and to leave her boys alone as well. Just think though, maybe we can even convince them to join us?" Brat wondered. "I do like the idea of me and that blond boy."

Blossom had noticed her blue sister had stopped sniffing, and the leader puff turned to her captor. "And, what do you mean by that?"

"If we can convince those ruffs to go back to their old ways, there's no doubt that blue boy would instantly fall for me, I mean look at me" she brushed one of her long pigtails. "We practically go hand in hand."

Bubbles had let go of her knees and Blossom looked back and forth at her and Brat. "Go on" she persisted.

"We'll be floating holding hands even, once you three are dead and this whole thing is over…"

Blossom covered her ears.

"...it'll be perfect-" A sudden sonic blast broke through the cage and knocked the Powerpunk puff girl back and few yards, completely taking her by surprise. The blonde Powerpuff girl flew out of the now broken cage facing her counterpart.

"She could've done that this whole time?" Buttercup whispered uncovering her own ears.

"Don't you dare lay one of your stubby little hands on Boomie!" threatened Bubbles with unusual fierceness.

"Boomie-? Oh bring it on sister, I see what's going on here." Brat looked at her opponent and then at the broken cage. 'Great' she thought. 'Berserk isn't gonna like this.' She didn't have time to act on it now though as she was quickly attacked with beams of heat vision and sudden punch swings.

Whilst the two blues were going at it, Blossom and Buttercup flew out the cage and looked around knowing they didn't have a lot of time. "What do we do?"

"Grab those Duranium bars from the cage, fend off the girls with Bubbles for as long as you can" Blossom instructed.

"What are you gonna do?" questioned Buttercup confused.

"I'm going to find some way to contact people back on the mainland, and hopefully I'll find Mrs Innlost too."

The girl sped off as Buttercup did as she was ordered, joining Bubbles in some sort of effort to defend themselves in this desperate situation. "Grab a bar Bubbs," she advised and readied for battle.

Having heard the commotion, Berserk and Brute entered the large room where the puffs were supposed to be held. "Brat! What's going on? How the hell did they get free?" demanded the leader punk clearly frustrated.

"It wasn't my fault! They-, well they-, they tricked me!" Brat was suddenly hit over the head by her counterpart cutting her off.

Berserk groaned and put her stubbed hand on where her nose would've been. "And where's the pink one?"

"That's not for you to worry about" Buttercup interjected as she threw and lobbed pieces of metal at the punks forcing them to dodge it.

"Worry about Blossom in a minute, incapacitate these two first" Berserk instructed her green punk rock like sister as they prepared to fight.

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In the room nearby that contained all the medical and experimental equipment intended for the Powerpuff girls, Ian who was on a laptop working on something, and Wendy who was close by next to another table, very _very_ reluctantly preparing a set of syringes, both heard the banging and clashing of metal going on in the other room.

Ian looked up, and didn't say a word but instead just stared at the wall as if he was watching something happen, which of course, he was. There was chemical X inside him too. He could see everything going on through that wall. "Continue preparing that equipment, I just have to quickly deal with something."

The scientist woman watched him go, fully making sure he was out of the door. Then taking a brief look for any cameras, which there were none of, she stepped over to the unattended laptop and quietly began typing, taking sharp glances to the door occasionally, easily hacking into the computer and making sure she left it in the way that Ian had.

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The half dead leader of the Powerpunks stepped into the room the puffs were supposed to be held in, only to find a broken cage and his three henchgirls fighting two of their captives. Shaking his head and putting his finger and thumb on the bridge of his nose, he started clenched his other fist and yelled up to his girls. "Berserk! Brat! Stop fighting them, go and find the other one. Brute stay with me"

"But Ian, won't they-?" two of them tried to speak up.

"Do as I say" he pointed and they immediately stopped fighting the two Powerpuff girls and floated in the direction he pointed in. Once they were gone, the decaying man looked up at the blue and green supergirls, whom were both holding duranium bars. Brute still floating by his side.

"What's this? Are you actually going to try and talk to us or something? Ha!" Buttercup with super speed toward him holding the bar to strike.

"Wait Buttercup!" Bubbles shouted to stop her sister.

But Buttercup reached her intended target, and instead of getting a hit, she was punched back with remarkable super strength when Ian swiftly swung his arm and socked her. She hit a wall on the other side of the room and slowly gathered back her strength. The puffs remembered, Ian supposedly had chemical X inside him too.

He shouldn't be too tough of a fight right? Bubbles and Buttercup summed up all the strength still within them and went head to head against the half corpse chemical X man.

This fight proved to be futile. Although he didn't fly, all Ian had to do in order to dodge their attacks was simply side step out of their way. He did so with such speed neither Bubbles or Buttercup could get a hit on him. And when they each least suspected, he managed to get another hit on the both of them. Striking them both with two swift punches.

"Brute, take care of your counterpart" ordered Ian and the green punk nodded, and zoomed toward Buttercup, whom barely still had some energy to spare, engaging the punk in more hand to hand combat.

Bubbles, stumbling to her feet, attempted to fly circles around Ian in order to possibly daze or confuse him. But with a dead on hit with his heat vision, the colour of which was jet black, Ian managed to hit the blue girl to the floor, and with a blast of energy from his hands, knocked her out completely.

Buttercup like before was struggling intensely to keep up with Brute. The puff was using too wide of swings, which exposed herself to attacks and punches, and it wasn't long before Brute got the best of her. Pulling out another tranquilizer syringe, the decaying boss came over and injected it into the Powerpuff.

"Alright, now just the other one."

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Breaking into what seemed to be an old security room, Blossom looked all around at the walls for something, until she spotted the computers and control panels. 'Great! Hopefully I can message for help.'

Normally she could just fly back to the mainland, but that would mean having to leave her sisters and Mrs Innlost behind. Surprised that the computers still worked, she tried and opened up any programme that could possibly help her communicate back with Townsville or the Professor. Oh how worried he must be now.

'C'mon there must be something here. Radio? Email? Skype even?' But alas there was nothing. These computers were mainly just for prison surveillance back when it was open. She realised that when she clicked on a file that had all the old archive footage stored away. But something caught her eye when she looked back through the dates of the videos. There was old footage of when the Rowdyruffs themselves were inmates of this prison. And one video in particular really got her attention.

By the thumbnail it looked as if the three boys were in the prison infirmary, but the heart wrenching thing was, only Brick seemed to be conscious, talking to another prisoner. Then he looked over to see his two brothers lying on beds next to him, and upon seeing what they looked like then, even made the pink puff recoil and fly back a bit in horror.

She could see in the footage that not only Brick but Boomer and Butch as well were covered in bruises and blood. With black eyes and scars all over. She let out a small gasp at the absolute horrific state these boys had been beaten to. Looked as if so it was done with duranium bars.

And then she watched her counterpart on the screen, almost having the same reaction as she was having now, but with far more guilt on his face. Blossom could see it all now, she was witnessing Brick's heart shatter into pieces upon seeing his brothers like that. And it wasn't just his heart, this was the moment where any chance of him being a kid anymore was completely gone. The very moment that robbed him of all joy, fun, and transformed him into the Brick she met just before she was captured.

This explains it all, as she watched him cry over his unconscious brothers, knowing that he must've taken full blame on himself for this. It's why he didn't want them committing anymore crimes. Why they swore off the criminal life as a whole. Why Brick seemed so much more mature now. Why he was so different to the Brick she thought she knew.

They had it so terrible, so abhorrent, and all they wanted to do was to be good. To actually fight crime in Founders city, to live a somewhat normal childhood with their loving mother. They even tried her about the punks, and befriended Bubbles. And Blossom disregarded anything they tried to say, and turned the whole town against them and ran them out. She exiled three innocent little boys who were only trying to help them. The image on the screen wasn't helping her hold back any tears of guilt. She let them flow, silently this time, as it felt like a rope was being tightened around her chest.

Suddenly the wall was smashed open, and the pink and blue punk floated in finally having found her. "X-ray vision never fails" smirked Berserk.

Blossom wiped the tears and put up her fists. "What happened to Bubbles and Buttercup?" she demanded.

"Oh Ian took care of them. What's the matter? Finally coming to terms that your little goody two-shoes isn't always right?" mocked Berserk glancing at the computer screen and then back at her.

Blossom tried to defend herself in the ensuing fight, and tried everything to change the inevitable defeat, but when she flew out the surveillance room in an attempt to flee, she was caught by surprise and knocked out cold when Ian from nowhere struck her in the head with a duranium bar.

"That's all of them recaptured, do not let this happen again" Ian warned throwing down the bar.

"Should we rebuild the cage?" Brute inquired whilst carrying the other two unconscious puffs.

Looking over the three puff captives, the rotting chemical X boss simply waved his peeling hand and dismissed "No. Bring them to the cage in the room with the equipment in instead. It's almost ready anyway."

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Wendy heard the footsteps approaching the door, and hoped to god her captors weren't using their x-ray vision. Making sure she left the laptop as Ian left it, she quickly resumed in her task of preparing the experimental needles as if she never left it.

And of course, in came Ian as well as his three henchgirls flying behind him. But the scientist caught a gasp in her throat when she laid eyes on the other captives. Bruised and unconscious. Is this what Ian went out to do?

She stared in horror as the Powerpuff girls were thrown into a cage on a table closeby, and looked over all the needles she had just prepared. The scientist even silently prayed, that she didn't have to use them. Oh god where were her sons? 'Oh boys where are you?'

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On the very shore of the island, with the violent waves crashing against the rocks, three small figures climbed out of the water and onto the land, shaking themselves dry.

"Why did we fly underwater again?" Butch questioned rinsing his hair.

"They'd see us coming in the air. Don't worry, we were going too fast for the cold of the water to affect us" Brick shook his hat and slapped it back on his head. "Okay" he looked over the old prison that they all had nightmares about, ever since the day they were originally released. "I can see which room they're in. Mom and the girls."

"Are they alright?" asked Boomer, worry in his voice.

"Mom seems fine, but the girls, eesh, don't look so good." The ruff leader turned to his brothers. "They don't we're here. Let's sneak our way in, it'll be more efficient that way."

"Surely the vents are the best choice right?" Boomer flew up immediately to grab the vent grate, but his brother saw what he was doing and tried to warn:

"Wait no Boomer, the grates were electrified!"

But the blue ruff had already touched it and, nothing happened. He quickly pulled his arm away. "Right I remember, they electrified the grates, didn't they?" he touched it again and still nothing happened. "Surely Ian would've been using it?"

"Well for whatever reason he hasn't. Now c'mon" Butch ushered. "Let's get this over with."

 **So I'm back everyone. I know, I'm really sorry for being away for so long, haven't updated in over a month and a half. Which is kinda bad because this story only has about two more (maybe three) chapters left to go. I've been really busy recently and there's also a christmas fic i'm working on and trying to finish (Not Powerpuff girls) But yeah I've finally managed to finish this chapter and hopefully I'll be able to get the final few out soon. Another apology to you guys, you've all been so great with feedback and a big motivator. Half the reason I really wanna finish this story is for you. Thanks to reviewers, favourites and followers.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	30. Rescue and final battle

Silently gliding through the vents of the prison, knowing their way exactly, as being former 'residents' of this former institution, the boys didn't even need to use their X-ray vision. During their time here, they actually managed to memorise the placement and directions of the air vents, though they never used them to escape, preferring to serve their full sentence as to avoid getting into anymore trouble. But now this knowledge was fully coming in handy.

"Okay here's what we do," Brick addressed his brothers in a hushed voice. "The biggest obstacles are obviously the other girls and Ian himself. So we each tackle one of those girls first and then Ian. He'll be too busy with the experimental equipment, so he'll definitely send out his girls to deal with us rather than him." Getting on his ear piece, the red ruff began talking in a normal toned voice. "Chief, are you there? We might need something to assist us in this…."

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Ian was finally ready with his Duranium scalpels to cut up and investigate the Powerpuffs and their super chemical. The three Puffs were still unconscious, and the entire room they were all gathered in was laid out with beakers and test tubes. Human experimentation was of course illegal and immoral but the half corpse had no time to be concerned about that now.

But what suddenly started to concern him however, was the voices he began to hear. He stopped and listened out. "Do you hear that?" he asked his girls without breaking his concentration.

The punks too with their super hearing could hear what he was talking about, and detected the voice of a boy up above in the next room talking to someone. And with X-ray vision they could see the three Ruffs themselves in the vents. So they had found them and decided to intervene after all.

"What do they want? Don't tell me they've actually come for the same girls who practically exiled them?" Brute scoffed.

"How did they get past my defences?" Ian wondered to himself, but quickly snapped out of it and turned to his minions. "Girls," he gave a signal and the three nodded, and darted straight for where the boys were.

Wendy stared in the direction the punks had flown in. Her sons had found them, but now she was deathly worried of the impending fight they were about to get into.

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"...And you'd better call the hospital Professor, I hate to tell you this but your girls need it right now" Brick sighed getting off the comm with not only the chief but the Powerpuff girls father as well.

"Okay boys, on my mark I need you both to dodge out the way" the leader suddenly said to his brothers.

"Why-?" they tried to ask.

"Just do it. Three, two, one…." the three immediately darted out of the way as between them all, another group of three streaks of light slammed straight into the vents, missing the boys completely.

Flying out of said vents, the ruffs glanced up to see the three other chemical X girls rubbing their heads. "I knew they'd hear us" revealed Brick.

Floating to their level, the pink punk girl addressed the opponents. "So you've decided to come revisit your old home then? I read about this place, you three were residents here at one point weren't you?" Berserk taunted.

"We've come for the girls and our mother" the red ruff got straight to the point, not taking his gaze off them.

"Really? Even Blossom? The girl who turned everyone against you and ran you out of town?"

"Yes. Even her" the boy stated bluntly.

"Look you three" Berserk begun. "This is not about you. You were never intended to be in our plan. Now Ian has promised your mom to leave you three and her alone afterwards if she agrees help us, even try to use the chemical X to revive her dead husband."

"Mom would never agree to help your sorry-" Butch interjected before Brick gave him a look to stop.

"Oh no? Use your x-ray vision, she's in there right now, preparing and assisting with the equipment" the punk girl pointed and the ruffs turned to see that she was indeed correct.

"Mom? But, she can't be doing this-? You must be threatening her or something!" Boomer protested along with Butch, not wanting to believe what they were seeing, whilst Brick just kept a quiet expressionless face.

"Who are you girls?" the leader ruff finally said.

"We're the Powerpunks dear, not that knowing will do you any good. Girls!" Berserk gave the order and the blue and green punks flew straight forward at their ruff counterparts, with Butch and Boomer only barely managing to counter their attacks. They proceeded to each engage in the fight that Brick had told them they would have to have, in order to save the puffs.

Brick was too facing his own punk counterpart, staring her down as the other siblings fought the other.

"Y'know Brick, it doesn't have to be this way, you could join us. Once Ian learns more about chemical X we could be practically unstoppable" Berserk proposed in a tempting voice.

The boy just glared back at her. "Tell me, once you do become this apparent 'unstoppable force' would you still leave me and my family alone? And how does Ian know you won't betray him? Perhaps he has a plan for you three too?"

"No, that's impossible. We'd know about it" Berserk retorted quite sure of herself.

"When he gives you all these 'new abilities' who's to say he'll do the exact opposite instead and hinder you with them?" Brick continued, his tone definitely jabbing at her. Berserk had clearly not considered that alternative.

"I just-, well I-, No! We know what we're doing!" she fired heat vision at him, that he dodged and countered with his own, beginning the battle between the two leaders.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

The fight between the blues had taken them to another room, out into the old courtyard even, where they continued to battle it out, countering each other with strikes and other powers. Both were pretty much equally matched with each other and couldn't gain the upper hand.

"C'mon Boomer, you don't have to fight me, we could work together. Just think, us two, tearing down cities entirely" Brat offered.

The blue ruff looked at the courtyard they were in, recognising it to be area where he once helped out that fellow prisoner and was beaten by those other inmates along with his brothers. If he hadn't been roughed up, that other prisoner would've, and he even thanked them afterwards. He gave that prisoner a chance. Bubbles also had given them a chance, when she first found them and look what happened, him and his brothers ended up being heroes. And when Wendy gave them a chance, they then ended up with a mother.

"What was your name again?" he asked.

"Brat. Brat Plutonium honey."

"Brat," he instead held out his stubbed hand to her. "Why don't you work with me? I mean destroying cities? Sure I guess it's kind of a powerful feeling, but is it worth it in the end?"

"Of course it's worth it! People will crawling at our feet the time we're finished" the punk gloated.

"But what then? I can tell you don't really know what to do with all those abilities and all that stuff, I mean if people are forced to crawl at your feet, they probably wouldn't like you very much would they, and then you'll be friendless. I mean, I became a lot happier when we started to be heroes, rather than being the bad guys. We have a loving mom, a great friend in Bubbles, and hopefully once this whole situation is explained, Founders city will love us! Isn't _that_ worth it?" he held out his hand again.

The Powerpunk floated across from him, just looking him up and down. Truth be told, everything he said once thought about did make some sense. People did seem to love heroes more than villains. And-, wait no. She was made like this, she couldn't be anything else. Could she? "No, no I can't, I'm sorry" she replied with genuine sincerity, before lunging at the Rowdyruff once more, again engaging in a battle. She didn't want to see the disappointed look on Boomer's face though.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Butch had to admit, this 'Powerpunk' or whatever girl was tough, almost as tough as Buttercup herself. If his skin wasn't uncuttable then he would've been worried about those braces on her wrists. She was fast, fast with her strikes, an effort just to dodge, which luckily he did every single one.

Other strikes he had to block with his arms, which he kept by close to his body the whole time in order to protect it, taking his own swings and hits whenever he saw an opening. He would block her blows then take very precise hits with his. Now normally Butch wasn't one to let off taunting, but with this you could tell he really was concentrating. Brute's blows and strikes were fast. So were his, except his were on target.

"Kinda holdin' back a bit aren't ya" the Powerpunk girl tried to provoke him, before launching another strike to have him dodge it and hit her hand on a duranium bar. "Ahhh!" she yelled in pain.

"You kinda have to hold back when we're surrounded by duranium bars" the ruff smirked back.

There were a few more blows exchanged, with Butch turning every counter into a strike. He counterattacked her blows perfectly, until she got tired and was starting to slow down. Having already waited patiently enough, and holding back until now, he seized his chance at unleashing several punches on her, specifically at her joints and then one final big blow right where her nose would've been.

Brute was finished, she couldn't stand up to her opponent for much longer.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Brick and Berserk's fight had far more combinations of attacks and powers. Heat vision, balls of energy. Turns out Berserk also had her own ice breath, so Brick once again was forced to spin at superspeed in order to generate enough heat to melt the ice before it hit him.

Every attack or combination Brick tried was countered by another combination Berserk would make which reacted to and perfectly blocked his. She knew what she was doing. The girl even flew behind some of the duranium cell bars whenever he tried to strike her with his fist, making him hit a bar, hurting his hand slightly as she zoomed to the other side of the room.

"Given up yet?" she chuckled evilly.

The Rowdyruff rubbed his stubbed hand. There must be some weakness to this girl, something he could use. What did she and Blossom have in common-, the hair. She had laces in her hair. Carelessly flailing around. He knew what he had to do. Feigning to be in more pain than he was in, Brick waited for her to charge him.

The girl scoffed. "Pathetic."

She darted straight towards him, and timing this accurately, right before she was about to hit him, he dropped the facade and dodged with super speed, grabbing the laces in her hair and wrapping around the bars.

Berserk was pulled to a sudden halt by her laces, hurting her head in the process. "Ah!" she yelped from the pain. Attempting to hit her opponent again, she zipped inbetween the bars, but Brick knew what he was doing. He moved in such a way that caused Berserk to only be more tangled within the cell bars. So much so that her movement was very limited, and Brick took full advantage, smashing her head into bar.

She tried to strike back, but Brick moved back so slightly that she couldn't reach him, still being tangled. He proceeded to unleash his full attacks on her, even ripping her tangled laces from the bars once he was finished. Berserk was beaten, she didn't have the strength left to continue fighting due to Brick's fury of attacks and punches. And in one final move, the ruff picked up the limp punk, and threw her like a baseball through the walls, into the direction of Ian and the captive puffs.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

By now the Powerpuff girls had woken up very drowsily, although they were too weak to put up any fight. They saw that they were in a different cage this time, inside a different room. Looking out from the bars, the girls could see a table covered with medical tools and experimental equipment. Each of them knew it was all meant for them.

There was no sign of the Powerpunk girls strangely enough, but there was Ian, and to their obvious horror, Mrs Innlost was there too. Seeming to be helping the half corpse.

"Wendy?" Bubbles tried to say in a very weak voice, and also a very confused one. The scientist woman didn't look at the girls. Too ashamed to.

That's when out of nowhere, the pink Powerpunk herself came flying through the wall and rolled onto the table knocking over half the equipment causing smashes and glass flying everywhere. She was unconscious and badly beaten, which slightly stunned all the persons in the room, and looked up to see Brick himself, not looking too good, glide in through the hole Berserk had been thrown through.

"Brick!" Bubbles exclaimed happily whilst still in the cage with her surprised sisters. The boys came for them, even after what Blossom did to them.

The ruff took a quick glance at the girls to make sure they were okay. And although they didn't look to be in the greatest condition, they were alright at least. He also took a quick look at his mother, to check the same with her, and unlike the girls she didn't seem to physically hurt in anyway. Then he turned to the half dead man.

"Ian, I know who you are, how my mother and late step-father experimented on your body with chemical X, and how it brought you back. I don't know what you're trying to do with these 'experiments', I can only assume you're trying to figure out the secrets of the substance, but doing via this, experimenting on live humans, it will not be allowed."

"Under whose authority?" the corpse asked, clearly playing on the fact there were no police around.

" _I_ won't allow it" the ruff declared in a serious tone. "You let the Powerpuff girls and my mother go, and I'll try and convince the police to help you with your condition after I bring you to the FDPD."

"And how could they help me?" the decaying man argued back in a similar serious voice. "How could they possibly return my body to a pre-decaying state? Not only that, but don't you see Brick? The people I could help with this chemical, once I've discovered it's secrets. I could even bring it's creator, your deceased stepfather Mark Innlost back, I've already promised your mother I would."

Meanwhile, said Rowdyruff mother Wendy, was slowly stepping towards the table behind their captor's back, reaching for the keys to the cage the puffs were held in.

"Ian, I do want to help people" Brick continued. "I've lived in Founders city long enough now to know that a lot of people live in fear and have lost loved ones. I too nearly lost my brothers. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them to the criminals that were locked up with us in this prison. And that's how I help people, by fighting the same crime that this building once contained. Not by committing more of it, like human experimentation."

Wendy started to slowly make her way towards the cage the Powerpuffs were held in, keeping her eyes on Ian the whole time.

"Ian believe me, I know you had to avoid the public and any eyes after you 'woke up'. How you must've only gone out at night, how frightened you must've been of people looking at you like this. Boomer Butch and I went through the same thing," the red ruff reasoned. "We had to hide away in a warehouse. We were forced to only go out in the non-crowded streets scraping for food, so no one would jeer at us or try to attack us. How frightened we were that someone would falsely accuse of something, and we'd be sent back here."

Blossom, who was watching, remembered the footage she saw of Brick looking over his beaten brothers in the prison's infirmary, looking fully regretful.

"Hm, what a turn of fate" the corpse commented.

"Yes, it might be. And what also might be, is the help I can get you."

"What help could I possibly receive?" Ian replied flatly. "There isn't a way, 'this'" he held up his hands to reference his own condition. "-can be undone."

"Perhaps, and perhaps not. We could research it, without having to resort to this. Look at myself and my brothers, all we needed was a chance. A chance Bubbles over there gave us, and then later our mother, who benevolently took us in despite knowing who we were."

The girls were listening intently, watching the whole scene play in front of them. Bubbles with a growing smile on her face at the ruffs words.

"Through them, and our time living in and observing Founders, we realised we could do more good with our abilities, than committing crimes like this. It was fear of this prison, that made us swear off crime in the first place. We could find a way to 'un-decay' you, if you're willing?" Brick held his stubbed hand out, as some sort of reassuring gesture.

There was a silence. No one said anything. Although Ian had a very stone face, appropriate for him, you could tell it was thoughtful. He sighed and finally said "I-, I'm sorry Brick. But I've crossed the line too much already. I've committed kidnapping robbery and assault, they won't go easy on me now. I have no choice." Ian, from seemingly out of nowhere, pulled a dart gun on the ruff and got a direct on him, causing Brick to fall to the ground in slight pain.

"Brick!" his mother accidently let slip out. The corpse man spun around and held his palm with black chemical X energy emitting from it, causing the woman to freeze in place.

"Don't think I didn't hear you pick up those keys with my super hearing."

All of a sudden, two more objects burst through the wall just like Berserk was, and rolled onto the table. It was an unconscious Brat and Brute, with a bruised and worn out Boomer and Butch floating in behind them. The Puffs just stared on. Even Buttercup had nothing to say. They had done it. They had defeated the Powerpunks, something the puffs could not do.

Looking around the room, both brothers spotted their red leader on the floor. "Brick!" they flew down to him quickly.

"Brick what happened?" asked Boomer clearly worried.

"Antidote, X" he managed to get out through gritted teeth.

"You leave them alone!" Bubbles exclaimed from behind the cage bars towards their captor. It went ignored, instead said captor simply turned back to Wendy.

"I wondered how these boys got past my defences I set up. Now it occurs to me that I left you in here alone with my laptop when I went to fight those girls."

"Why do you think I agreed to help you Ian? How else was I supposed to lower the defenses for my sons to get through" the scientist confessed holding her hands in the air.

"I knew you wouldn't betray us!" Boomer exclaimed quite happy at this revelation.

"Big mistake Innlost, what about getting your husband back?"

The woman looked down. "I miss him, oh so much. But I also knew him, and as tempting as it was to see him again, he would've said he'd rather remain deceased, than let something like this happen." She had a little regret in her tone, but knew she was doing the right thing. "Now let the seven of us go, or I'm afraid you'll have to face my boys."

"I do believe that one of them right now Wendy has just been injected with antidote X-" Ian turn around, only to see Brick rising and floating next to his brothers. "How-? How are you doing that? How can you be resisting the antidote X?" Ian shot him again, causing Brick to drop slightly, struggling to keep afloat.

"Go, get him" the boy breathed out. His brothers nodded, and as Butch darted for Ian, Boomer picked up his mother and placed gently in a nearby cell, in order to get her out of harm's way.

Ian countered Butch masterfully, locking them both in a stalemate. Brick, holding his sides in pain, looked around the room and noticed that this place was still full to the brim with duranium. "Butch!" he warned and pointed. The green ruff acknowledged, and with his heat vision blasted the dead man back against a slab of it.

Ian, despite his state, quickly recovered, and fired three balls of energy from his hands directly hitting each of the ruffs, knocking against a wall.

"Stay at even distances apart from each other" Brick instructed as the three surrounded Ian with an equal distance between them each, in a sort of equilateral triangle shape. They struck at him individually. "Keep a good radius away from him."

Ian knew what they were doing. Thinking maniacally, he used his super speed to hit all three boys, right before hitting them all again with heat vision.

Brick was still weak with Antidote X, and couldn't keep this up for much longer. But there were a few things he could do. Banging his arm on a nearby piece of rubble, he made several sounds with it, in some sort of distinctive rhythm. Shaking their heads, Boomer and Butch recognised the sound their leader brother was making: Morse code. He was giving them instructions. Of course, he couldn't whisper it to them because Ian would hear too. As the green and blue ruff prepared to carry them out, Brick had grabbed a nearby syringe, and took a sample of his blood.

Watching on the fight, Blossom had eyed the keys to the cage Wendy had dropped earlier, on the floor closeby. Not wanting the boys to have to fight Ian on their own, she turned to her sisters. "Girls quick, push the cage forward! It may be duranium, but the three of us together can at least push it over!"

Bubbles and Buttercup agreed and all three puffs began to push the cage with lunges, creeping it closer to the edge of the table.

Butch and Boomer kept countering Ian's attacks, as he persisted to take out more of the room's infrastructure.

Finally, the girls managed to push the cage they were held in off the table, landing right next to the keys that were within Blossom's reach. Grabbing them and freeing herself and her sisters.

Bubbles and Buttercup joined in fighting alongside their counterparts. The four of them together launched a series of attacks in usion all against their mutual opponent.

The pink Powerpuff immediately flew straight to Brick's side to see if he was okay. "Brick, are you alright? Is that, Antidote X?" She noticed the vial of red in his hand.

He shook his head. "No, it's blood." He glided past her, calling off the attacks of the greens and blues and floated in front of a now defeated Ian. " You know you're beaten Ian, at least I think you do, but I'm not about to let my brothers and counterparts die finding out. Take this, and leave us" the ruff held up the vial of blood. "It's mine. You can use to experiment with. It's not much, but at this point what choice do you have."

At this, Boomer and Butch obviously protested. "Wait, bro, what about bringing him to justice?" they questioned clearly confused at their leader's action.

Brick threw the vial to him. "Take it."

Holding the vial in his hands, Ian began to hear something not too far away, approaching the island. The children heard it too, and the ruffs smiled at the sight of a police helicopter descending right above the crumbling building. Chief Mccoy had come at last with the police helicopter they asked for.

Everyone knew in that moment Ian was done for, especially said half-corpse. Knowing he was trapped, he went to a desperate not well thought out resort. He fired two beams of black chemical X energy from his hands right at the six children. Luckily Boomer was able to block it with his own shield power before it could hit any of them, though with Ian's energy the blue ruff wouldn't be able to hold it for long.

Brick and Butch knew this, and flew to their brother's side, using their own energy to help him block Ian's.

Unsure of what to do, the girls looked up at the helicopter and back to the boys, almost joining in themselves blocking the energy, until Brick shouted: "GO! Get our mother to safety! We'll join you!"

Hesitantly, and looking at the other, the puffs did as he instructed and grabbed Wendy from the cell flying her up to the helicopter. "Wait No!" the woman protested. "My boys!" She struggled with them a bit not taking her eyes off her sons as they flew her into the vehicle.

"Wendy!" police chief Mccoy, who was commanding the copter, rushed to her side. "Where are the boys?" he asked looking up to the girls, and all of them looked back down again to see the energy become too much, and explode right between the man and the three Rowdyruffs, causing each of the boys to be thrown back rapidly and smash their heads on a cold slab of duranium on the ceiling. They all fell to the floor lifeless.

"No!" Wendy exclaimed as the girls gasped.

"Grab them!" Blossom ordered, and the three puffs darted down each picking up their own unconscious counterpart in their arms, flying them to the copter as the prison building collapsed on top of Ian.

"Boys? Boys?" Wendy took the three of them in her arms, panic beginning to fill her as well as tears in her eyes.

"Oh god, get us back to the mainland quick!" Mccoy ordered the pilot.

Like the boys mother, Bubbles too had tears streaming down her face kneeling by the side of her injured 'brothers'. At least that's how she saw them.

Although they weren't crying, Blossom and Buttercup stared on, with a lot of worry and guilt, mainly in Blossom, churning furiously around inside of them.

 **Hello everyone, I know I've been away for so long, and kinda left you all hanging when we are so close to the end. There's only one more chapter to go now anyway, and I have really enjoyed writing this fic, as well as coming up with ideas for it. And although I loved it, it will be nice to finally move on to different fic and conclude this one.**

 **I appreciate you guys sticking around too, and just as glad that enjoyed it as much as I did. Anyway, see you guys for the last chapter.**

 **Powerpuff girls and Rowdyruff boys belong to CN.**


	31. There is no bedtime

In Townsville's general hospital, regardless of all the recent accusations made earlier by Blossom against the boys just before they were exiled, the doctors and ward staff could not refuse to treat and work on the three Rowdyruffs after they were airlifted and rushed whilst still in a state on unconsciousness. Professor Utonium had originally and ironically been instructed by Brick to call the hospital because for the Powerpuff girls, now it was said ruff and his brothers who needed it the most.

Though the girls were still checked up on, examined and bandaged up. And not long before their father arrived to reunite with them, filled with relief and joy his girls were alright and back safely, despite all their injuries.

"Girls! Oh I'm so glad you're okay!" he kneeled down to hug them as they were sat on some chairs in a clinic.

In turn his daughters were just as glad to see him, though they didn't smile and instead just let him embrace them. He could tell each of them were still very worried as none of them had a cheerful demeanor. And who would after what he heard happened to the boys. They all looked incredibly guilty, especially Blossom of most. Last night he was furious at her for what she did to the Rowdyruffs, right before being extremely worried about her and her sisters when they went missing. But now it was clear she had learned her lesson, and the three needed comfort.

The only other person who must've been taking it this hard was the boys mother, whom he heard refused to leave their side, apart from when they were being treated and she had no choice to. He could understand what she was going through, it was what he felt when his own girls were captured. It was not a pleasant experience for any parent to feel. He opted to stay with his daughters for a while longer, until they said it was okay for him to go and check on Wendy.

After the Professor had gone, the girls continued to sit in silence for a while longer. Though there was something the leader Powerpuff girl had to get off her chest. She obviously couldn't talk to the boys right now, but there was someone else she needed to apologise to. Turning to her blue sister, who was currently crying silently into her knees, Blossom struggled to find the words she wanted.

"Bubbles," she finally managed to get out, getting the blonde girl's attention. "I-, I, I know for the past few weeks I've been, ignoring you, and shunning you whenever you've asked for help." She didn't know quite how to put this apology. "And have been arguing with you and Buttercup a lot more often lately, as well as not listening to either of you, believing I was in the right all of the time."

Bubbles glanced her up and down. Blossom looked very sincere with her words.

"And I know now what I did to the boys was wrong, how I just assumed they were evil, not listening to any arguments they were making, or that you were making. Just treating you like noise, right before freezing you."

There was another pause. Blossom had tears in her eyes trying to get this out. Bubbles didn't say anything, she just stared at her sister.

"I, I've been a terrible leader. I accused three innocent boys of deception and all these other crimes, and chased them out of Townsville, when they were trying to actually save us. And all those things they must've went through." The pink puff remembered watching the security footage of Brick crying over his unconscious brothers in the prison infirmary. "Is it really true? They were homeless at first, and were just trying to stay out of things?"

The blonde, after listening intently, replied "They were. I even brought food to them on some nights, but they got caught up in doing acts of good. I saw Boomer save a baby from a burning building myself, and it was genuine. I was there when they saved a mall from armed gunmen. They were all reluctant to do any of this, but I think once Mrs Innlost adopted them, they softened up, and they figured they could do a lot more good than harm with their powers."

Bubbles relaxed a little bit. "I think it was because they had been living in such a terrible condition, and realised that many people in Founders had it the same way. I know Brick Blossom, he does genuinely care for those citizens, and his family most of all. As do Boomer and Butch" Bubbles reminisced. "And they were so kind to me, even before they met Wendy. I drew with Boomer, Brick helped me with school work, Butch showed me martial arts. They even bought the arts and crafts set that I wanted for me, they were so wonderful."

Blossom wiped her face after her sister's speech. She admitted regretfully "I should've been doing that. Not that I don't like the boys looking after you, as a matter of fact I'm glad that they did, because I sure wasn't doing it." She sniffed again. "Oh Bubbles I was gonna ask you to forgive me, but I don't know how you can. I nearly got us three killed, and Mrs Innlost, all because I refused to listen." Tears began to form again.

Now this was Bubbles whom she was talking to. This blue girl, despite all the things her sister had done and being so angry at her before, could not hold a grudge against anyone. She accepted the Rowdyruffs when they had all that bad stuff in their past and after realising they were sincere, and now she was about to do the same. She embraced her pink sibling. "I forgive you Blossom. I couldn't hate you. Not matter how hard I'd try. I still love you."

Blossom embraced her back, though both were still intensely worried about the boys condition.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Sunlight shone through the window in the small private room where the boys were being kept in. The three of them had a bed each, hooked up to machinery monitoring their heartbeats. With their heads bandaged, the doctors worked as best they could to treat any damage the ruffs suffered to their skulls, and even they weren't sure of the outcome of this ordeal. With the three young heroes biology being so different in all, it was harder to diagnose them.

Their mother probably could've done it easily, but they needed serious medical attention instantly, and to be worked on. She stood there now, by the side of their beds looking down on them. One hand on the bed and the other holding the handkerchief to her eyes to stop the tears from falling. Her father, chief Mccoy, had been in the room previously had offered to go down to get some more coffee for the both of them.

She always knew in the back of her mind that what she was doing was wrong. Letting her three new sons go out every night to face drug dealers and murderers. Them being late for school the morning after was always the least of her worries. And here's what it had come to: them lying unconscious with severe head injuries, not knowing if they'll wake up. What if this happens again? With all the danger in Founders, it was possible. They maybe indestructible 99% of the time, but that other 1% was just too much for her.

There was a knock at the door and it opened. Wendy expected it to be her father, but it being Professor Utonium wasn't a big surprise either. "Wendy? There you are. I thought I'd better check on you too after making sure the girls were alright." He stepped into the room and came up beside her, looking down as well, at the three boys that saved his daughters.

"I owe them so much after this. They came to me you know, just before they went to rescue you and the girls. I shouldn't have let them go. I should've just let the police handle the situation. I-"

"You were worried about your children, I understand" Wendy said quietly through her handkerchief. "How do you do it John?" she sniffed. "How do you handle letting your kids go out to fight criminals and villains knowing something like this could happen?" She didn't say this in an accusing or mean spirited way, but more as a genuine question.

"There are times Wendy, there are times where I do question why I let my girls go out and fight people like that. This instance is a perfect example, and to be quite honest, I did seriously think about stopping them from doing this sort of thing permanently last night. But, now with your three boys who rescued them, if anything did happen to the girls, I can be sure that they will not be harmed in a situation like this again, that they will be safe. And after this, I'm sure the girls would do the same thing vice versa if the boys were in trouble."

"If they make it through this" Wendy stifled another sob.

"Now don't think like that" he put his hand on her shoulder. "The six of them are becoming stronger, and more experienced by the day. I think I will let my girls continue what they do, because this whole mess has only brought the former six arch enemies together, and that's a hopeful thing. These boys have been through worse in prison, I'm sure they'll pull through this."

The scientist woman thanked her friend for coming to see her, as the Professor left the room and back to his daughters. Despite his kind words though, he too deep down was worried for the unconscious ruffs.

A while had passed and in all that time the Rowdyruff mother refused to leave their room. They had not yet woken up and were still hooked up to monitors. Wendy herself fell asleep in a chair for a brief moment, only to kick herself for doing so when she woke up. She wanted to be awake for when the boys did, though she was slightly saddened when she saw they hadn't in that time.

She stood up and walked over to their beds, gently brushing their faces with her hand. They might as well have been her real sons the way she worried about them. She heard another knock, which she figured to be a nurse, doctor, her dad or John again to see how they were doing. But to her surprise, when that door opened, standing there himself was the short, helmet wearing, black and green primate Mojo Jojo, with one hand on the door and the other holding a bunch of flowers. He had an unsure expression on his face, as did Wendy.

"Um," he cleared his throat. "I uh, came to see if the boys were doing okay, and all." His deep voice sounded nervous. "I heard what happened, with the whole kidnapping thing and the offshore prison, and how they saved all of you."

There was a silence. Wendy didn't know what to say or think. This was her first time meeting and talking to the famed villain of Townsville. Here he was in the flesh, actually trying to, be nice to her.

"Uh, may I?" the monkey asked if he could come in, to which Wendy slightly and unsurely nodded her head without saying a thing.

The primate stepped in and up on a chair to see the three chemical X users he had created himself over a year and a half ago. Even though they had left him all that time ago, and they started doing acts of good and heroism, everything Mojo despised, he still couldn't help but feel worry for the sons he had made, and once bore his name.

"To think, I created them originally to destroy the girls" he mellowed. "And now they've done the exact opposite, they always were disobeying me" he joked trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work though and he cleared his throat again and carried on. "I uh, I also know about you adopting them, Mrs Innlost. The widow of Mark Innlost, who would've thought? I didn't. I always did admire your husband as a scientist, the creator of chemical X. The most brilliant mind Townsville ever produced, even greater than mine. And to be quite honest with you," he laid down the flowers on the bedside table. "I couldn't think of a finer name for the boys to go under."

Wendy still didn't speak, but looked up at the primate and listened what he had to say. "Now that I think about it, I don't think it was in my boys to be evil for much longer anyway" Mojo continued. "I don't think it was ever in them. I tried to raise them to be evil, but I just don't think they would've been for long. And now they have your guidance Mrs Innlost. Perhaps it's just a mixture of nature and nurture, of how a person turns out in the end." He sighed. "It just proves to me that, I'm not cut out to look after them, they are most certainly better off with you Mrs Innlost. They'll have a better life with you, even if that is a life of, ahem, doing good." He strained to get those words out his mouth, but he couldn't go on a rant now, not here in front of her.

"Which is why," he put his hand in the bouquet of flowers and pulled out a disc. "Here is security footage of cameras around Townsville. I know I know, I hacked them, but this has footage of the boys fleeing from the girls when Blossom was chasing them, and refusing to fight her. This will without a doubt prove to everyone that Blossom's accusations were wrong and the boys are indeed, ahem, good after all." He handed it to her.

"I, should go now. I, do hope Brick Boomer and Butch wake up and recover. It was nice to see them again. Shame it's like this." He ruffled each of their hair with his gloved hand gently. "They're the Rowdyruff boys. That name was supposed to have negative connotations, but it certainly doesn't now. And judging by their harsh treatment in the prison and on the streets of Founders, they've been through a lot worse. They'll pull through this, I'm sure of it."

He stepped off the chair and headed towards the door. "Just, take good care of them Mrs Innlo-, Wendy. They'll need you. Remember, they may be heroes to the people of Founders, but to the them, _you_ are their Rowdyruff. I'd uh, appreciate it if the hospital didn't know I was here. That's the last thing I need. Thanks for letting me see them though."

The green ape stepped back through the door, but just before he did Wendy let out a small and quiet "Thank you."

He turned back and gave a brief smile before finally leaving the room. And not only seconds after he left, the boys in their beds began to stir.

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Brick moved gradily first before his brothers followed, opening their large eyes slowly and turning their heads. It was a strange sensation for them waking up like this, though it had happened before. Groaning slightly, the first thing they heard was the familiar voice of their worried to death mother suddenly exclaiming "Boys!" she ran up to their beds draping an arm around them gently, as to not move them from their positions. A huge smile of relief grew on her tear stained face.

"Mom" Boomer replied happily but also very weakly.

"Mom you're, you're alright," Butch tried to say through his also weak breath.

"Shh boys shh, you've all sustained severe head injuries. You should all rest while I go and get the doctors and let them know you're awake" Wendy soothed.

"What about the girls? What happened to them?" Brick asked.

"They're all fine, thanks to you three. They've been checked up on already, and they are fine. And no, we didn't manage to get Ian in the end, or the Powerpunk girls. But either way, they didn't succeed in what they were doing, and can never again, thanks to you boys." The mother kissed the three of them on the head before going to fetch the nurses and the doctors, more happy than ever for her sons wellbeing.

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It was about noon now and the boys, being chemical X users, were recovering far faster than anticipated. The doctors and nurses worked on them further, now that they were awake. Their heads were still wrapped in bandages and it seemed their skulls, despite hitting full duranium, were only damaged slightly. They received no brain damage.

The girls heard the boys were awake with their super hearing, as soon as Wendy told the doctors they were.

They desperately wanted to get in the room to see them, but the Professor told his daughters to wait for the doctors to finish first. Once they were finally allowed in, Bubbles couldn't help but immediately dart towards the ruffs embracing all of them, which was difficult given they were in separate beds, pure relief and joy in her hugs.

The ruffs themselves didn't mind this. It was quite pleasant to see their blonde bubbly friend again, safe and unharmed. They were growing stronger by the second, not hurt at all by Bubbles's tight hugs, and their headaches and pains had disappeared by now. Each of them even had a bowl of soup in their laps.

"Oh boys! Are you hurt? Do you feel alright? Are your heads okay? What did the doctors say?" the blue puff spewed out not stopping to take a breather.

"We're fine Bubbs, honestly. We went through a lot worse when we were beat over the head with duranium bars several times back when we were inmates" Butch shrugged off waving his hand.

The blonde puff definitely felt a lot less afraid and a lot more joy knowing her 'brothers' were at last conscious and recovering well. Blossom and Buttercup so gratefully had the weight taken off them after feeling incredible guilt over the boys injuries. At least Buttercup felt a lot better anyway, Blossom still had a large knot in her stomach over all she had done. She couldn't get the image of Brick crying over his beaten brothers, that she had seen on the archive prison footage, out of her head. And seeing the three of them almost in that exact same position because of her actions, her stubbornness, after they even tried to save her after what she did to them. Oh how could she recover from this? She was just thankful at least the three seemed to be okay.

The doctors performed a few more checks on the boys, as well as the Professor coming in to thank them, followed by chief Mccoy, thanking and briefing them on what happened after the mess at the prison.

"We scanned the area and searched through all the wreckage and rubble. But it seems that those 'Powerpunks' managed to wake up and high tail it out of there. There's no sign of that Ian guy either. They all must've somehow survived it."

"They're chemical X users, of course they did. Either way there's no way they could try the same thing again now that we know about them" Brick responded in the usual serious tone he had whenever he talked about crime.

"But Ian got away with a vial of your blood. He somewhat got what he wanted in the end" Buttercup said disappointingly folding her arms.

"Not quite" Brick tilted his bandaged head. "I took that sample of blood right after Ian injected me with Antidote X. The chemical X in my bloodstream was weakened at that point. That sample is no more use to him than a normal human's would be. I had to get him away somehow."

"I knew you'd have a plan" Butch smirked laying back down on his pillow.

Brick was the first to get up from his bed and start moving. The people in the room began talking to each other and conversations were had between them all.

Wendy briefly stepped out of the room to talk with the Professor and her father, and the blues chatted with each other like one of their usual secret playdates.

"I don't get how you could beat that punk when I couldn't" expressed Buttercup starting her own talk with Butch.

"I wouldn't fret, it's not that hard to learn martial arts. Heck I thought you already did" he responded.

"Well I don't alright" she folded her arms and looked away embarrassed. " I just haven't had time, I've been training recently more for my soccer team."

"Oh really? What position do you play in?" asked the green ruff, not that interested but figured he might as well strike up a conversation.

"Left wing. You play?"

"Right wing. Good fighters tend to be sporty."

"Yeah and, you were kinda awesome in that fight against Ian" admitted the tough Powerpuff.

Blossom, who remained quiet throughout the whole thing, slowly and unnoticeably flew out of the room, exiting through the window. Only Brick with his sharp eyes saw her go. He rolled them and sighed before deciding to follow her out, having an idea of the guilt she must've been feeling.

Outside, up in the air above the hospital, the Powerpuff leader floated looking down at the city below, looking depressed and regretful at the same streets she chased her counterpart through. And speaking of which.

"The city still loves you. The media will spin it anyway they can to make you look like the hero."

Blossom turned to see the boy she falsely accused, outside with her where he shouldn't be. He still had bandages wrapped around him though he now had his hat on covering most of it. "Brick, you should be inside recovering."

"Shouldn't you be too?"

Blossom paused. "I, oh Brick, how could you even be talking to me after this? How are you not furious? I did so much. I accused you and your brothers of conspiring to attack us. Of using Bubbles to get to us. Of using your mother." She had a sudden moment of realisation. "Your mother already lost family before, she could've lost that again today because of me." A few tears rolled down her cheeks.

Brick looked in thought for a second. "Blossom, I can't condone what you did before, but I'm not angry at you."

"How? How could you not hate me?" Blossom blurted out. "I looked at you with such disdain before. I couldn't handle the fact that you might have actually changed. That you were helping the people in Founders, doing actual good. I thought it was some sort of ploy to fool us. But I ignored all the evidence that said otherwise. I didn't look at any of the work you were doing apart from a few biased news reports. I didn't even stop to think what you might have gone through." She wiped one of her eyes with her arm.

"Blossom, you were wise not to trust us at first" the Rowdyruff spoke making her look up. "Not because we were evil or anything, but I understand from your point of view, that if three old enemies came out of the blue and basically said 'we're good now', that does seem a bit suspicious. And yes, maybe you should've looked into what we were actually doing a bit more, but investigating into what our intentions were would have been the best course of action. Imagine what would've happened if we were still evil and you believed us just like that? It'd be catastrophic. And to be quite honest, I would've done the same thing if in your position. And I'm not trying to make myself out to be the perfect crime fighter or anything, but I probably also would've investigated further into it, to determine whether or not my former enemies were indeed still a threat."

The Powerpuff didn't look him in the eye. "Maybe I should've realised after Bubbles revealed she was meeting with you guys, and after you refused to fight us. Oh I can't be a leader, not after this. I was too envious of the progress you were making in Founders, and partly accused you out of stubbornness and pride, I can't lead again now."

"Don't be ridiculous, you're not first leader in history to make a faux pas. During my crime fighting career in Founders, I looked up on yours. Princess teaming up with Mojo, that giant monster you couldn't defeat that one time, saving your sisters and the Professor from those balance traps. I wouldn't have been able to lead my brothers without studying some of your escapades first" the ruff had to admit.

"But I saw you lead Boomer and Butch in that fight against Ian. How you commanded them and your discipline, whereas I didn't even know Bubbles was sneaking out every night up until yesterday" pointed out Blossom sorrowfully.

"Discipline doesn't always mean letting them have no freedoms, but more or less they know what to do or what not to do in a certain circumstance, like a battle for instance. For example if multiple crimes were happening at once, you send whoever you deem best to handle one situation. If one crime was a group of armed thugs robbing a store then you send Buttercup. And if the other crime happening at that same time was a lesser villain acting up, you send Bubbles. Whilst you handle the crime that involves more planning out and tactical thinking, a hostage situation for example." Brick laid some advice for her.

"We, don't really have a lot of hostage situations in Townsville" said Blossom.

"Sorry, they're quite common over in Founders. But as to your point about being a leader, I'm the perfect example of learning from your mistakes. I mean, I know what I was. Just a thug with chemical X created solely to destroy you and wreck havoc. The lifestyle I took my brothers down lead us to near death, I learned that the hard way."

"Mojo created you like that, it wasn't your fault" Blossom retorted, suddenly becoming defensive of her former enemy and the way he was defaming himself.

"The point is, as a leader you do have to accept some responsibility for mistakes your team makes, but as long as you strengthen yourself from them, you and the team, that's what matters. Think of them as vaccines, if you will."

"So next time, I guess I'll properly look into an enemy, and their activities, before accusing them of something?" figured Blossom, beginning to feel slightly better over the ruffs injuries.

"Precisely" Brick smiled satisfied. "And I'm guilty of doing this too, but maybe listen to your siblings suggestions, you never know, they might be good ones. Just remember, there were incidents like Gallipoli, or the race to the sea, or…"

"Or the first Apollo" the puff added playing along. Blossom could not honestly believe who she was talking to. This was the same boy who only two years ago she fought and battled against, who was immature, who couldn't lead a horse to water. And now here he was, that exact same Rowdyruff, giving her pointers on how to lead a battle, admitting he had faults of his own, even forgiving her after she was the one who acted like a complete child, being stubborn and jealous. He was speaking like stern father, and from what she heard from Bubbles, had a dry sense of humour too. This prompted her to ask "What, did you go through, exactly?"

There was another pause before the Rowdyruff proceeded to tell her the story of him and his brothers, though he let off the details, as to spare her of anymore guilt, knowing full well what it was like to feel something like that. However he finished with "If it helps, I do forgive you, and behalf of Boomer and Butch, they forgive you as well. Don't give up being a leader, you're still a fantastic one."

Blossom wiped her eyes again and sniffed. "Yeah, and you've risen up to become a far better one than me, proving all of Townsville, even myself wrong. I'm sorry Brick." She floated forward and softly kissed his cheek, before continuing to sniff again.

"Oh alright" the ruff complied and opened his arms, to which Blossom flew against him and hugged him. "So this is an armistice I take it?"

She giggled at this slightly. "No, it's a peace treaty. Between us, the ruffs and puffs. Though I think Bubbles has already unofficially done that."

"Then this is official now. You carry on your work here in Townsville, and continue fighting in Founders."

"Indeed. About your work over there, what's it like exactly?" asked the puff as the two floated back down to the hospital.

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"So you swing just like this?" Buttercup mimed.

"Sort of, a bit more like this" showed Butch, teaching her how to throw a punch effectively.

The reds at this point flew back in through the window. "So you followed the blood trail and found a smashed up phone?"

"And got mom to trace the SIM card yes, that's how we found chief Mccoy when he was captured that one time" explained Brick.

"And traced an assassin by examining particles on the victim?"

"That's how we caught Joe Briggs."

"That's actually, I mean, wow."

At this point Wendy stepped back through the door announcing to the children. "I have good news kids, the hospital is discharging early, due to you, y'know, being superpowered kids and all. We're heading straight back to Founders, where you three will have plenty of bedrest to recover. That means no crime fighting for at least three days."

"But mom what about solving cases and stopping robbers and-" Boomer and Butch began to protest.

"Now boys" she simply replied back winning the discussion. The three knew she was right in this case, and agreed as she stepped back out.

"I suppose it'd be nice to get out of school for a bit. Especially if you visit us Bubbs" Boomer smiled and the blue puff's only response was to giggle and practically glomp her counterpart.

And Buttercup asked hers "So what was that move you were explaining again?"

"You mean the counterattack or the dropkick?"

That's when Boomer flew over to them with an unimpressed look and kiss marks all over his face said "Can we just go now, please?"

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"Thank god for social media." Chief Mccoy stood in the hospital corridor next to the Professor, who was on his phone. "It won't be long before news of the boys rescue of the girls spreads, and the townsfolk will have a hard time vilifying them. Especially the media, I can't wait to see 'em try and spin this."

"I'm just looking at this, it seems that a lot of people already are in support of the boys, especially in Founders. Though there are many here in Townsville rethinking their opinions of them" informed the Professor.

At this moment Wendy approached the both of them getting off the phone herself. "The boys teacher, Alfie, just called, said he was glad the boys and myself were fine and doing okay. Y'know, I've thought a lot about letting the three of them go out again. I've given it three days to decide, but if they can survive this, perhaps they can survive worse. I still don't like it all that much, but to be honest, I don't think I can stop them permanently if I tried."

"I'd prefer it that way" commented her father.

"So we're still gonna fight the nightly Founders scum?" Butch's voice came from behind.

The adults turned to see the six children having just heard everything they said. "Be sure to tune in to Townsville's news tomorrow" nudged Buttercup.

Wendy sighed. "You boys have done a remarkable job at clearing up the city." She pulled out a locket on a necklace and opened it, revealing a picture of Mark inside, right next to one of her sons. "He would've been proud. It's what he would want."

"If it helps Mrs Innlost, if it weren't for them, then we wouldn't be here safe and sound now" Blossom vouched.

"And if it also helps Wendy" the Professor put a hand on her shoulder. "He would've been proud of you too."

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The adults and children exited the hospital, expecting a quiet and peaceful transition, but of course, fate had other plans. A loud and massive roar echoed across and through the buildings, with people running scared and screaming.

"I forgot this city had monster attacks" Brick remarked.

"Hmm, maybe you would like to handle this, if you're feeling well enough of course" Blossom offered gesturing with her arms.

The boys looked at each other, then at Wendy, who herself looked unsure, but relented and gave them an encouraging smile. The three nodded to each other and zoomed off, in the direction of the opponent.

"I think this'll help grow more support for them, don't you think girls?" said Blossom.

"Yeah, just remember, you hurt them again, and you'll be dealing with me too" Bubbles, very surprisingly, warned her.

The ruffs approached the monster's eye level. "Alright boys, single enemy formation, let's go."

And so, for the very first time, well not quite, the day is miraculously saved, thanks to: The Rowdyruff boys! I wonder how they'll get on. The girls may save the world before bedtime, but with them, there is no bedtime.

 **So that's it, that's the final chapter, and again, I'm so sorry you had to wait so long for this. I started this fic in October 2016, a year and a half almost, and now it's actually all over. I did think about maybe doing a series of oneshots set after this story continuing the boys adventures in Founders, but I would like to focus on other fanfics as well. Maybe I'll do oneshots in the future who knows? Unless someone wants to write a oneshot or fic based off this of their own, you have my blessing. Just make sure to stay in character ;)**

 **Thanks to all the favs and follows, and the reviewers who stayed and have been reading all this long time, you inspired me to write this. Vip, John, Bigou, ppg1998, Narya, just to name a few. Thanks all!**

 **Rowdyruff boys and Powerpuff girls belong to CN.**


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